Being Katherine Pierce
by Klaroline-Fantasies
Summary: Katherine's a bachelorette lawyer working in the Mikaelson Inc. Firm. When her best friend/Boss tells her he's going oversees for a year and leaving the son she's never met in charge...let's just say he doesn't receive a warm welcome. Little did they know, fate has a twisted sense of humor... [Loosely Inspired by Being Mary Jane]
1. Chapter I

**Hey, so I finally finished this story. This will be my first ever Kalijah story (regardless of how short it is).**

**It's like 9 Chapters and I won't be doing an epilouge.**

**thememoriesofaqueen has an idea what this story is, if you're reading this "YASS I finally Finish it, but you'll get a preview before I publish in case anything's too wierd so I can do last minute change :D"**

**This was actually meant to be a oneshot that I started years ago, but it turned into a short story.**

**I wanted it to be rated M, but I didn't have the energy for smut scenes so Its Rated T, sorry!**

**To my klaroline fans, I'm still writing in the background, this was just 9 chapters whereas, the stuff I'm still working on are longer, like Season 1 of The Originals is 12-13 Chapters and Revenge will probably be 10-11 chapters but I'm still re-writing, I haven't even gotten to writing new stuff for it yet.**

**And I'm wasting yall time with author's notes so on with the story.**

**Chapter 1**

* * *

_This is not a fairytale._

_There's no Princess and a Prince,_

_Or a King and a Queen,_

_This is about a woman, who has an excellent career,_

_And no one to share it with,_

_A woman who is surrounded by people all day..._

_And feels alone at night,_

_The things she once never wanted in life is now her greatest dreams_

_The desires ridiculed others for, she now craves._

_This is not a fairytale,_

_This is not a movie..._

_This is not even a story..._

_It's an autobiography._

_This is the autobiography of Katerina Petrova, what she's best known, as Katherine Pierce._

_. . . . . . . ._

**Katherine's POV**

My name is Katherine Pierce...and there's a very handsome man, on bended knee in front of me right now with a wedding ring in his hand, awaiting my answer. You're probably wondering why is there a guy proposing to me at work. I'm still wondering why he chose to do this at work. He was never known to be the public displays of affection type.

That's Elijah Mikealson. He is the third eldest son to the greatest lawyer—and owner of the multi-billion dollar law firm which also happens to be the best law firm ever, Mikealson Incorporated—Mikael Mikealson.

Elijah Mikealson is also my boss—well was my boss for some time. Mikael is back and he's my boss again.

And yes, I'm a lawyer.

Now you're wondering why my previous boss is about to propose to me in front of his ex-employees...

Well that's a very long story...but if you have the time then get some popcorn and sit...I'll tell you everything.

In this story, I will laugh, I will cry, I'll be pissed and mostly annoyed. Some of my actions and choices you might judge me for and you might ridicule me, hey, you might even laugh at me...but in the end, you'll see why I did what I did.

It all started 2 years ago. I was having sex with a friend of mines that I usually go to for sexual release on a nightly basis. I was single and a workaholic, he was in a loveless marriage, so we thought...'hey, make the most of it'. I suddenly realised that I wanted more.

The women in my family had a history of starting their families early in life. I'm 25 years old and because of my lifestyle—meaning the lack of a husband and some kids—I'm considered the black sheep of the family. When you add my family's history with the new trend of having 3 kids by the age of 23...you get labelled a failure...or unlucky...

When I was 23 years old, I hated the idea of a husband and children. I was never good with kids anyways. Until, my twin sister Elena popped out her third child...I was in the room when she was holding the little thing, fawning over it like it was a pair of Alexander McQueen's. Then Elena put the little mess maker in my arms to hold—despite my numerous subtle protests. The little girl had to be pried from my arms after that.

Ever since that day, the thought of waking up every day for the rest of my life next to the same man didn't sicken me to my core anymore. In fact, I found myself dreaming of it a couple of times...and they were actually good dreams. The idea of having a child or two didn't completely suck either. The more time passed, the more I warmed up to it.

Now when I go home, I go home to a house so empty you can hear the deafening silence as loud as can be. It made my ear feel like it was choking on the silence. I feel like my clock—the one inside of me—is ticking now.

I kept having sex with my friend—Mason. It was good sex, but it was beginning to feel empty. My life was beginning to feel empty. I was beginning to feel empty. I soon realised, I wanted the very things I avoided and rebelled against. I wanted a husband, I wanted children...I wanted a family.

Some might say I'm addicted to sex, because I have sex every night...oftentimes with random men. But I consider it to be a strong sex drive.

I drink wine and tequila everyday and you might think I'm an alcoholic, and I might think you're right...but I consider it to be a throat massage. You see, considering the work I do, I need to keep my throat regularly relaxed so I can do my job to the best of my ability.

I make a six to seven figure salary a year and I love to shop. You might think I'm a shopaholic and I know you're right...but I work my ass off for the money I earned, and I deserve to buy myself nice things. I love to look my best.

Mikael Mikealson is my boss and he adores me. It's not because of my body mind you...say what you want about him, but he loves his wife to death. I'm the best lawyer he has. Hell, I'm half the reason why his company made more money last year than ever.

Aaron is the first born and he's indifferent to me. He's filled of hellos and goodbyes. He's the CEO of the Mikealson branch in Canada. Finn is cordial to her at best. I can tell he has his own less than nice opinions, but he's wise enough not to voice them. He's not in Law, but he owns a couple of 4 star hotels around the globe and unfortunately, he has enough knowledge of the job to babysit the company as acting C.E.O. when Mikael has to leave the country for some time.

The third eldest, I haven't met. I know his name, but I really don't care to even say it. The others told me what he thinks about me and when the day comes when I finally get to meet him...I'll make myself a grand entrance and show him that he should have made time for me. All of his siblings have met me, even the sister. I refuse to waste precious thought on a man who couldn't care to meet me at very least and cast judgement after.

Klaus, his step-son, is one of the greatest artists from the 21st century. There is a painting he did of a blonde woman, sitting in the loneliness under a tree in a park. It sold for over ten million. We get along like the best of friends. Don't get me wrong, he's easy on the eyes...they all are. Yet he swears on his head that he's not in love with Mikael's assistant, Caroline Forbes. It's as clear as the sky though. Poor Caroline; doesn't even know the blonde woman in the park is actually her.

Kol is an international gaming designer. He created the designs for some of the most sought for games in the world. He has been trying—and failing—to sleep with me since the day we met. Although we're good friends, not a day goes by when he doesn't try at least once.

The youngest boy Henrik is on his last year of college, Mikael wants him to get into the family business, but he wants to build cars from what I heard. I met him once, he had no interest in me though, just my boobs.

Then there was Rebekah, the only daughter. She hates my gusts and I hate hers. We're too much alike to ever get along. She's a fashion designer, and a very good one. I'll never tell her that though. I've even bought some of her clothing.

Then there's the wife...Esther Mikealson. She's almost as important as the First Lady. Esther is publically cordial to me and that's where her civil mannerisms towards me end. In private, she will go to her grave believing that I'm sleeping with her husband. Mikael says that he thinks she thinks he's getting his revenge on her for cheating on him with Klaus's biological father. He also thinks that she doesn't truly understand the depth of his love for her. I think it's because he's never really shown her or really told her.

Mikael is my boss and my career was heading up. I specialize in divorce, women's rights and any else that has to do with female empowerment. Men shrivel at the sound of my name and crumble at the sound of my voice.

It'd be nice to come home to a man who loves me unconditionally.

Might be nice to be greeted by my own child...

But I'm in my 20's—yes almost 30 but I'm still young! Despite what others might say...I still have a lot of time...right?

But just because everyone else is popping out kids like toast, doesn't mean I have to...and just because everyone's getting married before the age of 20 doesn't mean I should be in a hurry. I got my whole life ahead of me...right? Just because Elena is happily married and on her third kid, doesn't mean I should go out and look for a wedding band and a foetus. God knows I might kill myself and the guy who puts stretch marks on this amazing body.

But I'm not here to talk about my sister, or my family, or her husband. I'm not here to talk about my boss and his wife or the Mikaelson's. I'm here to talk about me and the day my life completely turned around.

Oh you think it was the day I first met Elijah Mikealson? Oh god no, the day my life became an office romance novel, was the week before...when Mikael had the nerve to go on a shopping spree with me...just so he can really tell me that he's going to India to expand...and there's going to be a new Sherriff in town...

**End of Katherine's POV**

. . . . . . . .

* * *

"What!" she shrieked.

She dropped her purse from her hand on the ground and turned on her six inch heels to face Mikael.

"I knew you would react like this..." he trailed off with a heavy sigh.

Did he really think he could buy her cooperation? Did he not know that she knew from the get that he was trying to bribe her? The second the sentence fell passed his lying lips she knew something was up.

She would have called him out on it before they left the firm, but one can't have too many shoes...and it also helps if she's not even spending a dime of her own money too..._so this is what having a sugar daddy feels like..._

"Mikael, you're talking about leaving for some other foreign country, not a weekend trip to Las Vegas!" she shrieked again, using hand gestures to signal to him the seriousness of the situation. Her mouth closed as a thought occurred to her "Is Esther going with you?"

"Of course." he replied, as if the question is ridiculous in and of itself.

She closed her mouth and thought more about it...might be nice not to have to see her judging eyes on her all the time around the office.

Mikael saw the look on her face and he rolled his eyes "Katherine please, let Esther be. Besides, ever since she cooked up the affair she thinks we're having...she's been...extra generous to me."

Katherine raised her eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip. She quickly forgot about her anger "Are you getting blowjobs? If not, I might need to up my game on this false affair."

Mikael just chuckled "The only thing I'm not getting is paid, because what we do might as well be porn."

She covered her mouth with her hand in surprise and her eye opened wide "Oh my, I didn't know Esther was a freak. Now I know how she managed to pop out seven children."

He lay back in his chair with his wine glass in hand and sighed "Who needs Viagra when I got a wife like that."

Katherine and Mikael were in a Victoria Secret's lingerie store. Katherine wanted to look her best for her date tonight that she had set up. She had Mikael with her in the dressing room, as she began to strip. Mikael was busy away on his phone of course. Anyone with a fully functional brain would tell her that taking her boss in a shop like this was highly inappropriate. Her boss wasn't like regular bosses though. Of all the men in the world, she trusted him most. He's never seen her in a sexual sense and she enjoyed that. Who knew she could have a straight guy friend?

Wait..._Viagra_...he was trying to stray from the topic.

"You're trying to stray. You're leaving the States for India. You can't leave, I need you here. I'm not taking orders from some rent-a-lawyer for a whole year, worst if it's Finn. Why can't you get the old son to oversee this expansion? I'm sure Aaron would love the vacation." she asked as she was trying on a baby doll set.

He sighed and sat up "I can't send any of my children because they're specifically asking for me to come and oversee everything. I gotta carry Esther because—well—I want her with me—"

"Take me too!" she interjected, a slight desperation to her voice.

Mikael laughed "You don't want to go to India; you just don't want to be left with someone who'll boss you around."

"Exactly." she agreed "We have a relationship; an agreement. I make your company millions of dollars and I get the bragging rights. So now you're going to leave me here with a temp or worst, with Aaron or Finn and I will seriously consider hanging myself."

_Sarcasm, typical Katherine..._

"Don't be dramatic Katherine, it gives you wrinkles. Besides, I'm not leaving my company in Aaron's grimy hands or Finn's close minded palms." Mikael even scrunched up his face in disgust at the thought "Those idiots think they can run my company better than I do. I made them who they are and they repay me with judgement on my multibillion dollar brand."

Katherine turned around and posed in her baby doll set for Mikael to judge. He mimicked the vomiting action and shook his head. Katherine shrugged and began to strip out of it.

"Well it's not like you got a lot of lawyers in your bloodline. Finn is a hotel owner, Klaus is an artist, Henrik's still in school and Rebekah's a fashion designer. So unless you've been hiding something from your wife..." she trailed off and turned around with a raised eyebrow and a growing smile "Or unless you're giving it to me..."

When she saw the deadpanned look on his face, her hope died an agonizing death. _So much for that idea..._

Mikael sneered "As talented as you are my dear...my children, my wife and half the world's population won't understand that choice if I made it. This might be the 21st century, but we humans are still small minded. If I give you temporary access to be king for a whole year, there will be conspiracy theories about you planning on taking over...Esther will think it's only a matter of time before she gets the boot, my children would think I should be locked in a mental institute...in fact they might even try to get me committed. My company will turn into a media circus and you will be in the dead centre of it all."

Katherine was facing the mirror, her back was facing Mikael, but she knew he was right. It would be a media circus if he handed her the company, even temporarily.

"I'll be handing Elijah the reigns until my return." Mikael briefly said.

She turned with a confused look on her face "Who?"

Mikael slumped in his seat and glared at the back of her head "My son Katherine. The one you pretend doesn't exist."

She fastened the garter belts on her thighs before turning around completely with a confused look "You have another son—" she froze as realisation came over her that between Finn and Klaus, there's that guy "—the one that thinks I'm a brainless whore, who has no business being in this firm?"

"That was years ago Katherine, keep an open mind and forgive and forget."

"Or I could open his brain with my heels." Katherine retorted as she folded her arms.

"Katherine you hold a grudge better than anyone I know." he shook his head.

"What was his name again...?"

His face fell "I won't fall for that, considering I said his name less than 60 seconds ago."

She merely shrugged. She knew his name...a biblical name, Elijah. She won't let him know that she knew.

"I didn't and I never cared to find out either. I just like to refer to him as the Extra" she deadpanned "But this is just great, a Mikealson who hates me for no logical reason. You know what...I think I'd prefer a random newbie."

_And the sarcasm just kept on coming with Katherine._

"You two would get along so perfectly if you could put aside your differences..."

"Just let me gut him like a fish and then we can be besties." Katherine smiled.

Mikael cocked his head to the side and frowned.

She shrugged and made a quick turn to show off the lingerie set they both ignored.

"Whatcha think? Too red...?"

"Too simple" he replied "This is a date and although he might be traditional enough to not expect sex on the first date, you're expecting it, so since you're adamant on buying lingerie for this, might as well look amazing. That reminds me...condoms young lady. I can just picture how ridiculous you'll feel explaining what a one night stand is to your new victim."

"I have dinner with Klaus before the actual date so..." she trailed off.

His face twitched in curiosity "What business you have with Niklaus?"

She shrugged her shoulders "I'm his new pimp."

His eyes widened "Come again...?"

She placed her index finger on her lips to signal to him to keep it down "Relax, it's not like that. Trust me, if he gets that desperate, I'll drag Caroline and Klaus together and lock them in a room together until someone comes out married." she then sat down next to Mikael and folded her legs "He thinks that she knows he likes her but she doesn't feel the same way, idiot. He wants me to find some nice girl to use to get over the blonde."

"Niklaus has the same charm all my children have. He could just ask her. Or call anonymous or something...sitting and coming up with imaginary conclusions will only drive him mad."

A light bulb went off in Katherine's head "You just gave me a perfect idea"

But before she enacted said plan, she had to pick out a set...or five.

* * *

**That Night...**

"Wait, you want me to do what?"

She groaned and hung her head. She got tired of saying it the first time, now she has to repeat it all over again. It was an idea, not a frigging book.

She was at dinner with Klaus. Of course she had a date after so she won't be actually eating anything. Klaus was obsessing over finding some young lady to distract him.

"Send her anonymous letters. Don't say who it's from, don't send it to her yourself, don't even be seen delivering it to the mailman in the office. You think she doesn't return your feelings and you're right she doesn't."

"Wait, how do you know? Did you ask? What did you say Katerina?" he kept coming at her with question after another and ugh, her brain hurts.

"Firstly, **_don't_** call me that" she pointed a finger at him to make sure he knew she was serious...she never liked the name before and she doesn't like it now either.

"Secondly, she's not in love with you because she doesn't know you. All she knows is that you're the son of Mikael Mikealson, an artist who just sold a pretty painting for over ten million dollars. She knows that you come to the office to check up on Mikael. What she doesn't know, is that in hindsight, you just spend thirty minutes at the office listening to Mikael's fatherly advice for the day, only to get six seconds to actually see and say one, maybe two words to her every morning. A woman who just greets you everyday doesn't fall in love with you, if that were to happen, then you'd have competition with 4/10 of the world's population that shows up at that firm...looking for a lawyer. The way I see it, the only thing standing between you and Caroline is your fears so I found a solution to that, take it and use it until you finally realize that not only does she deserve to know, but you deserve the truth so you can move on with your life. Now write the bloody letter so you can help me find someone I can have sex with tonight. The date I had I cancelled because I realised I had some last minute work to do so I need a fix."

Klaus, who had been sitting across from her in a slump basically all night, was now sitting there in shock of what Katherine had just said to him. All of it is true, but he never heard it from that perspective before. He could tell she was also heaving for air; she had let all that out without catching a breath.

"Your vibrator stopped working?"

He chuckled when she growled at him in response.

"The brother of yours who thinks I'm a clown in a skirt is about to be my new boss from next week. I don't know him, the way I know the rest of you. I can deal with Aaron because I know what kind of guy he is, hell I can go a few rounds with Finn, but I don't know this one and I don't want another Mikealson who's constantly questioning what I do and why I'm here. I don't know him and I hate not knowing." she vented angrily.

Her eyes caught a pair staring at her in confusion and pity and she looked away, only to find some of the people in the restaurant doing the same. It seems she was a little too loud.

"I can't find it anywhere. I put it in my bathroom cupboards and now it disappeared." she mumbled, referring to her vibrator. It's true though, she had finished using it last night in the shower and she had put it there. When she went looking for it this morning, she turned the entire house over to look for it. She ended up using her dildo.

She has a very high libido.

He laughed out loud. Not too loud for people to start thinking he was crazy, but enough for people to think she was acting weird and he was just trying to make her laugh. He was laughing at the fact that she couldn't find her vibrator.

"I don't get you Katherine. You're a very sexy woman. You're Bulgarian for crying out loud, every man loves exotic women...why can't you find someone? Better yet, why can't you find some random guy for the night? Half the men in this room, even with their wives and girlfriends, would spend a night with you."

"The honest truth?" she asked, leaning forward against the table

"The truth." he replied, also following her lead.

"I'm not physically attracted to most men."

He seemed taken aback by that "Are you saying that you might be playing for the other team?"

"Oh God no" she leaned back in disgust "I mean don't get me wrong, women are sexy to look at, but that's not my cup of tea. I meant looks don't really do it for me anymore. Take Kol for instance, I know Kol is smart, but he says the most stupidest things on the planet, and even though he has a pretty face, what comes out of his mouth just paints his appearance into something that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Similarly, when I meet a guy and we talk, they say the wrong things. I want to forget what they said just because I only want their dicks, but I can't and it just completely turns me off."

Klaus cringed in disgust when she mentioned dicks and he was no longer interested in his steak.

"Look I'll write this letter and hire a guy to send it for her in the morning. You should go home and go get some rest."

He allowed a pause when she didn't say anything else.

"You know, Elijah's really not a bad person. He's a bottle of gentlemen like manners, morals and principles. At most, he has quite the stick up his ass. Trust me, when he meets you, I have the feeling he'll want a piece of that humble pie he rarely eats."

Katherine was unsure to trust Klaus. Mikael told her he's not that bad, Klaus told him he's not that bad either, It was all coming from a bunch of biased relatives. They know him their entire lives; she's just about to meet him.

"I'm serious; you have nothing to worry about." He tried to reassure her.

She had a difficult time believing that.

* * *

**A Week Later, Monday Morning...**

Today was the day that Mikael was officially leaving for India with his wife and a few lucky bastards.

But she prepped for this day for the entire of last week. She had a plan, and it was an amazing plan. It was an epic plan.

It required baking, a change of clothing, a wig, some acting skills and a show stopping performance.

She spent days on the phone, online, bribing, digging and charming every speck of dust she could find on one Elijah Mikealson. He had some tough dry dirt covering his skeletons but she dug em up and barely broke a nail.

Most of her research was actually quite dull, but there were some very interesting things she learnt about him. He was quite different from his siblings, though shared the same level of arrogance.

All in all, this will be a very interesting morning for her. The idea she had, the plan she planned to perfection was derived from a statement her sister had made last week while she came over with the kids.

_"You know what would be weird? If we both showed up, wearing the same thing or something, super spooky..."_

She wouldn't have actually considered it. It was child's play. That sounded like something straight out of parent trap or something.

_No, she elevated it._

All she had to do now, was pull on her wig, fix it properly...then she put on her sister's 'mom heels' and found the only prissy dress she owned. She looked like something straight out of Hairspray and she loved it. She looked exactly the way she wanted to. She picked up the tray of brownies that was on the kitchen counter and looked in the mirror that was just by her front door. She plastered her best sunshine smile.

The recipe was a Kol special. She'll send that idiot a fruit basket when she can. She never thought she would need it, considering she has always tried her best to have nothing to do with the stuff, but this was a special occasion.

This is what you get when you mess with Katherine Pierce.

Knowing that she was dressed the way she wanted and understanding the performance she had to put on, she locked her front door and headed to her car, excited to get to work for the first time in a long while.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the pictures she did see of him, positively nothing to do with his chiselled features, and the elegance in his posture. Besides, 60% of men in the world looked amazing in a suit. He just happened to fall into that bracket.

* * *

**So I hope you like it! Don't worry, Kalijah coming up in the next chapter, I'll have it up in a couple of days.**

**Do tell me what you think :)**

**-Cindy**


	2. Chapter II

**Here's Part 2 to Chapter 1 :)**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"I've been listening to you fawn over this woman, and all the successful cases she has had since you called me to look after the company till your return father. Though her accomplishments are impressive...she sounds like most lawyers I've met before."

Mikael growled under his breath. He almost wanted to chuck the book currently in his hand at Elijah's large head. The boy was spectacular at what he does, but he often fails to acknowledge the achievement of others.

He needed Elijah to understand how important Katherine was to his company and to him before he left, more specifically, before she arrived. Elijah has always had this uncanny ability to insult people to their face without truly understanding the fact that his words were insulting.

If Elijah insults her in any way, it would turn into a cold war in his place of business and the last thing he needed was Katherine and Elijah at each other's throats. No one is going to make him choose between her and his children. There will be no choice to be made.

Mikael's office had an adjoining board room. It was build specifically in that way so that he won't have to go far to attend board meetings. His office was quite simple, a double wooden door entrance, a wooden table to the far end of the room and a chair. It was big enough to hold a laptop and a couple of files. Behind the chair was a door to his private toilet and to his left... was the door to the board room.

Mikael had been sitting in his chair while Elijah sat opposite him. Mikael leaned back in his seat as the chair squeaked and creaked in complaint and he massaged his temples in frustration.

"Elijah, I don't ask much of you. All I've asked of you is to go to school and be someone. That's it. I am about to ask you for one thing. While I'm in India, please, for the love of god, pull out some of that Mikaelson charm we know you have. She is not only one of the most amazing lawyers on the frigging planet; she's one of our major incomes right now. She's also a very good friend of mine—" Elijah cuts him off, in realisation.

"Isn't this young lady the very woman mother claims you to be having an affair with?"

This time, he took up a small book and chucked it at his son's direction. Elijah ducked just in time to fly over his head before he rose back up.

"Uncalled for, wouldn't you say?" Elijah asked sarcastically, while cocking his head to the side.

"We both know that conspiracy your mother cooked up in her paranoid mind isn't true. Katherine has agreed to play nice and eat her vegetables...that is a miracle because—_spoiler alert_—she never plays nice. I am begging you Elijah, the only solid reason you have for terminating her...is if she commits murder, in my building, while there were witnesses, and she had no valid reason—" Elijah cut him off again.

"You have such fate in such a random lawyer father..."

Mikael slammed his hands on the desk and stood up abruptly "It's not faith, its _facts_. You have never seen her in a courtroom. You have never seen how she deals with her clients. You don't know her. You have no business judging _that book_ by its cover. I am warning you Elijah_; do not touch_ that book."

Elijah was about to respond when Mikael's landline phone beeped, indicating Caroline on the other line.

"Caroline, is she here yet?" he asked with slight panic in his voice.

Mikael's voice brought an unusual smile to his face. His father truly desired him to like this girl. What was so special about her?

She was absolutely stunning, an exotic beauty. His taste in women had always been more foreign than local. Her family lineage was not a secret; she was Bulgarian at her roots. Based on his research, she had a twin sister who was married to a Salvatore and three children. Her family line seemed to have a history of starting a family very quickly, yet she broke tradition. She had no husband, no children and she lived alone.

She had her basic degrees and bachelors and masters that were required to work at the firm... she had a reputation of being quite the feminist when it comes to the court and her cases. She never lost when it came to getting women their dues.

But she was still a basic statistic on a chart of every lawyer on the planet. And she was limited. With her qualifications she should be taking on a lot more than she does. Custody battles, divorces and contesting prenuptial agreements should be easy by now...why had she not been challenging herself?

"Worse...her sister's here" Caroline whispered through the phone in an ominous tone.

Mikael's stomach sank and the phone almost slipped from his grasp. Luckily, he caught it and placed it back in its rightful place before turning to face his son with a grim look.

Mikael got up and moved around the table to Elijah and turned the chair so he could fix his son's tie. It was impeccably in place, yet he wanted to be sure it would stay in place. He needed to flatten the creases and fix the cuff—and Elijah should button up his jacket. Lord knows Elena has this thing about appearing lazy in a suit. The last time she saw him, she never let up until he allowed her to press the small wrinkle on the back of his shirt.

"Get up" he ordered, and when Elijah didn't move quickly enough for him, he pulled him up the rest of the way and turned him to face the door. Mikael also faced the door with the feeling of a pending doom in his gut, as he knew his taste buds, his stomach and his appetite would suffer a grave loss.

"Don't be rude, just eat and endure."

"What—" Elijah didn't get to finish what he wanted to ask before the doors flung open.

A woman in a blue sundress and pin straight hair entered the room with a smile so bright it should hurt her cheeks.

She looked like the girl he was meant to meet, but there were differences between the pictures he saw and the woman in front of him now. This one had straight hair. The woman he was meant to meet had long curled tresses. This woman dressed like busy mother, while the lawyer they had been waiting for has always been seen dressed more provocatively than normal female women in their line of work. Also, in each and every single image he's seen of her, she always has a crest resting elegantly on her chest. This young lady before him had on a simple necklace.

It must be the twin sister. He was made aware of the fact that she had an identical twin sister only moments after arriving in the country.

"Good morning Mikael!" she chipped, making her way towards them as if she was accustomed to being in the office "It's such a beautiful day today! The birds are chirping, the sun is singing...did Kat get in yet?" she asked, eyeing them both—although she had been eyeing Elijah a bit longer than she should have.

Well, she wasn't expecting him to look so much younger in person. The guy was in his mid 30's and he looked...well her age. Damn, he won the handsome contest between them all too...he took the frigging cake and the trophy. He looked so much better in person in a suit too.

Could be good husband material too...and the babies would come out perfect with her beauty and his winning features—

_Seriousl_y_! No Katherine, you better slice your pound of flesh, you did not go through all of this to turn him into husband material!_

She internally shook her head and placed her mind back on the yellow brick road of her plans.

"Not to my knowledge." Mikael replied, with the most faked jolly tone to his voice he had never mustered, as he eyed the tray of baked...whatever in her hand "We're actually waiting on her."

Elijah had never heard his father sound like that before, well he has, but it sounds so forced.

"What do you have there? Mikael asked nervously, fear and anxiety turned in his stomach at the sight.

God bless Elena and her sweet personality. It was a good balance between the sisters, considering how...evil Katherine's words and opinion often comes across to others, but the poor thing can't cook or bake to save a life. He often wondered how the little ones survive with her food. She cooks the right way to the point where it comes out the way it's meant to in appearance, but when you put something she made in your mouth...it's like whatever has in it triggers a gag reflex.

So basically, you can't allow it to sit on your taste buds...you have to swallow as soon as you put it in your mouth or else you'd never eat for the remainder of the day.

Elena wanted to be a chef. She bakes and cooks for her family and he always understood why Damon would eat at the office before heading home. But was he so cruel to allow the children to suffer such a fate?

When she makes something she's proud of, she brings it to the office and Damon threatens everyone to eat it with a smile.

If Damon isn't there, Katherine gives everyone a look that clearly would mean 'eat it or else'. They're absolutely scared shitless of her, and with good reason.

"I baked some brownies, it's a new recipe. I wanted to ask Kat to taste it for me, but one minute she was there and the next I heard the car leave...so weird. Anyways, I want you to tell me what you guys think." Katherine picked up a piece and allowed Mikael to hesitantly take a bite.

All she wanted Mikael to do was to taste it. It would be odd if she only fed Elijah, but considering the special ingredient in it, it was specifically meant for Elijah, not Mikael.

She then took up another from the tray and with a bright smile; she turned to Elijah "Open up."

She didn't wait for him to protest, she won't allow it. The second he opened his mouth, she didn't give him a piece to bite like she had done with Mikael...no...She shoved the whole thing in his mouth and she gave him a look.

Mikael was about to swallow it whole and risk choking when his taste buds accidently got a taste of it.

It...Actually...tasted...good. It's really good. In fact, there was a sort of, herbal aftertaste he quite liked.

Either this woman in front of them is not Elena, or skills are improving.

"This is actually really good Elena. Looks like those classes are finally paying off." Mikael complimented.

He might take two or three for the road. He reached out to the tray to take more when Elena pulled the tray back instantly.

"Oh no mister, that's quite enough for you. Katherine told me about the incident when you passed out in the middle of a meeting. The Private Doctor told her that you can't have sugar for a whole year to prevent diabetes."

It was a lie...that actually never happened. Mikael at his age was as healthy as a 25 year old. But she knew he'd go along with the lie. He would go along with the lie to protect Katherine from whatever it is that lead her to lie in the first place.

Elijah, who obviously believed her words swallowed thickly and turned to his father in surprise. Elijah didn't seem to look guilty, just confused, but his father has been known to be quite the actor "Is that true father?"

He shook himself out of his shock to answer "Um, sure. Sorry I didn't tell you, I didn't want to worry everyone."

Elijah put a hand on his shoulder "You should take better care of yourself father. Be lucky mother didn't hear of this or there won't even be a trip to India anymore."

"Well don't worry, I won't tell a soul." Katherine made herself sound so sincere, like she would keep the secret to her grave "Katherine probably wouldn't have even told me if she wasn't drunk as a fish."

Mikael snorts, even if it was a lie, Katherine does tend to be a bit more open when fuelled with alcohol "She does get loose lips when under the influence..."

Though he was curious...why would Katherine even make something like that up? What was she hiding from Elena?

Though she tried to alternate her eyes between them from time to time, she always found herself right back to staring at the son.

_My goodness, he was just mouth watering..._

"I should probably cut these up" she said, glancing at the brownies, putting her acting skills to work "I'll be giving some of these to Damon when he arrives. He loves them in little bite sizes so he can just...pop them in." she giggled.

"I'm sure he does..." Mikael chuckled "When did Katherine leave your home?"

"About five minutes before I did actually." she replied, while cutting up the brownies "I knew she would be getting her coffee and reading the papers before she got here to I thought I'd surprise her. She loves my baking."

"I'm absolutely sure she'll love these even more." Mikael added.

"Um..." Elijah started "Would you mind if I had more? They're awfully delicious."

Elijah was never the type to over indulge. In fact, he would never even ask for more. But they tasted marvellously. He quite prefers savoury over sweet foods...and yet since he had his first taste...he wanted more.

She turned around with an excessively sweet smile.

"You can have as many as you like."

She held the tray up and allowed him to pop them in his mouth one after the other.

She shook her head at him in her mind. _A gentleman should never eat a lady's brownies._

_Tsk...Tsk...Tsk_

"I didn't know you had a sweet tooth." Mikael commented with a raise of his eyebrow. He watched as Elijah popped them in his mouth like tic tacs.

"I didn't know myself, if I'm being honest." Elijah replied with a nervous laugh, while holding his 12th bite between his fingers.

"There's an herbal like essence to it, what is it...?" Mikael asked, while folding his arms.

"That's a secret ingredient..." she smirked "Will you gentlemen excuse me while I use the rest room?"

"Of course..." Mikael replied.

She made her way to Mikael's private rest room but she paused midway and turned on her mom heels "While Mikael knows he cannot have another, for the other gentleman, please...do help yourself to more."

With that, Katherine disappeared into the restroom to put the final touches to her plan.

Mikael found that to be quite odd. In fact, he found her whole presence and her demeanour to be odd. She acted like herself, but, she felt off. Then instead of leaving his office to find the public restrooms as Elena usually does, she goes straight to his private rest room. Perhaps Katherine had informed her that he had one and it made no sense for her to go so far.

But Elena is a creature of habit.

But he shrugged it off. He turned to find Elijah eating yet another brownie. If he didn't know any better, he'd say Elijah was pregnant or something.

The way his son was swallowing the little things like a drug addict, it was even very odd of him. In fact, it was very odd for Elijah to even ask for more or overindulge. Did he fall asleep and enter the twilight zone?

"Father, you said Ms. Pierce is always on time, yet she is over half an hour late. What a gracious start towards meeting your new superior."

Mikael's eyes widened. He pointed a finger at him "If anything you say results in her leaving this company, I will rip your tongue out. You are my son but I damn near consider her my daughter, and I will _not_ have your rude and suggestive comments flying about the place. So pretend you're wooing her and use the manners that I spent time, effort and thousands of dollars paying for."

That shut Elijah right up.

Meanwhile, even Mikael found it odd that Katherine was late. Would she be so childish as to not even show up at all? It was even odder that Elena reached here before she did. That never happens. She would always be out there hiding while everyone else had to suffer.

"And don't you worry son, she'll be here..." he chirped "She better get here." he then mumbled under his breath.

He had been waiting for 30 minutes, had to deal with Elena's chirpy presence and he couldn't even have anymore of the brownies, considering he did not have a sugar problem to begin with. When he gets Katherine by herself he'll have to ask her about that...

Wait...

_"Open up"_

Elena won't force someone to eat her food. She'd ask. Of course Katherine wouldn't allow anyone to refuse her, but she always asked.

_"**You** can have as many as you like..."_

She was pretty suggestive when she said '_you_'...like she was..._flirting_?

Nah, Elena is head over heels in love with Damon. She wouldn't...

_"While Mikael knows he cannot have another, for the other gentleman, please...do help yourself to more..."_

Again, Elena was being pretty suggestive when she said Elijah could have more, almost as if she was beckoning him to take more. Elena had never shown interest in any of his sons before. Then again she had never met Elijah before, as Elijah had been living in England working at the London branch and freelancing all over the world.

But it's absolutely possible that he's reading too much into it. Elena has always been an exceedingly nice and accepting person.

The sound of heels shook Mikael from his thoughts and made him turn around. Elena had returned from the rest room but she looked different...it wasn't the hair...maybe something was wrong with him today.

Did she actually change her makeup? He was sure her eyes weren't so dark when she walked in.

Mikael shook his head; he was reading way too much into it "I forgot to introduce you. Elena, this is my son Elijah...he lives in England and free lances around the world. Elijah, this is Elena, Katherine's twin sister, as you can tell. She's married to Damon Salvatore."

"Oh" he replied, he stuck his hand out to shake it but she just looked down at the hand and back up at him with a smirk that would send chills down his spine...especially considering not just 10 minutes ago she was as bright and as bubbly as the sun.

"That's the same thing I said when he proposed to her" Katherine deadpanned with a blank look on her face.

Elijah and Mikael both looked at each other in confusion.

"I'd hug you, not shake your hand, because _Elena is a hugger_, she just loves _hugging_ random people, but I'm not a hugger and fat chance in hell I'd hug you."

Mikael's face fell as a stomach turning realisation dawned on him "Oh no..."

Katherine placed her purse on the table near the brownies. She pulled out what looked like a silk purple blouse from the purse and a coat. Then she pulled out a black pair of heels. She'd be so glad to get out of this bright blue thing she has on. She'll burn it as soon as she gets home.

"But ya know, she didn't listen...married him anyways. I said Elena, its _Damon_...you'd be better off with Stefan...but nope, she wanted Damon. But hey, who am I to judge? I have sex with random faces five days a week."

She watched as he started blinking, as if his world was beginning to get hazy. Good, the brownies were kicking in.

She stretched her hand behind her dress; she began to unzip it. When it was finished, she turned around and allowed the dress to fall from her body, exposing herself in a pencil skirt and a strapless bra. She turned around and smirked at their jaw dropped expression.

Mikael had a dreaded look on his face and she knew he had figured it out. He realised they were played hook, line and frigging sinker.

"Your name is Elijah Elias Mikealson—" she turned to Mikael "—Elias, really...? That's the best you could've come up with?" she rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Elijah "You're 35 years old, a Scorpio like I—biggest joke of the century. Like your older and lesser siblings, you went to the best schools; you got your necessary Degrees and Diplomas in London to become a lawyer."

Katherine then put on her blouse.

"You started your riveting career in the United States and from here; you skipped your home town and went all around the world, making a name for yourself—how charming. You're fluent in 6 languages; English, Spanish, Hindi, Korean, Latin and German."

She gladly got those stupid low heeled shoes off and gladly slipped on her platforms.

"You actually share mild features with Kol. You never spent much time with your mother and you're closest to Klaus of all the siblings. Twice a year you visit your little brother while he's in college. Once a year you would check in on your mother in this little corner that you forgot..."

She reached in the back of her neck to remove the necklace she borrowed from Elena this morning. She then searched through her purse until she found her family crest and placed it gently around her neck. She then secured Elena's necklace in her purse. It was a dinner gift from Damon when they were dating—Elena would kill her if anything happened to it.

"You've had a total of two girlfriends in your entire life—like come on, you're a Mikealson, that's just sad—the first was a high school crush, it ended almost as quick as it happened. The second was actually your wife for some time. She kinda played you and Klaus for a while. It was just horrible what she did, just horrible. I know this piece of information because the woman you married also randomly happens to be my cousin, Tatia Petrova."

When she saw the shock on Mikael's face, she realised that he had no clue about the tragic love triangle. How did he not know about this?

"Mikael, you mean to tell me you didn't know why they weren't talking for like a whole year when the Tatia thing started?" she turned to Elijah "You mustn't keep secrets from daddy."

Mikael rolled his eyes, while she pulled out her neatly folded trench coat from her purse and unfolded it before putting it on.

"You see...my overzealous and stupid cousin believed that she could have the best of both worlds. Originally, she met Klaus, I think, but then she met you and suddenly, she wanted you both. She knew that you guys were so close that it would never happen, so she decided to share her time with the both of you. She would have Elijah and then she would turn into someone you don't want and break up with her and then she would turn to Klaus, and the vicious cycle continued. That is, until one day she broke up with Klaus and followed you to Korea. She somehow talked you into marrying her and that's when you two flew to Vegas and got married. The only reason why that was such a well kept secret was because Tatia paid off the priest, providing he _anonymously_ sends pictures to Klaus. She made it seem like it was you who sent them—of course Klaus thought you were just twisting the knife in his heart. Then she got bored. You see, even though—_her words_—the sex was good, she realised it was no fun without Klaus. So she filed for an annulment and moved on, while you two were left to pick up the pieces. My poor Tatia doesn't know that CNN news will have a new topic to discuss tonight...'What Lengths Will A Modern Day Woman Go for Fame?'...it includes evidence and a full story on a woman named Tatiana Petrova—_she absolutely hates being called Tatiana_—and the Mikealson brothers, Elijah and Klaus. It also includes the story of two brothers who had their relationship torn apart by a vile woman and their journey back to each other—it was tear-jerking, really. It'll also do wonders for the firm."

Finally, Katherine pulled off the wig that she bought from a friend of hers who owned a hair salon. God bless her for picking out the wig she needed at 3 am last night. She did not have the patience to flat iron her hair. She had to get that girl a gift. She bent over and shook the curls out. Then she flung her body upright and both Elijah and Mikael watched as Elena Salvatore turned into Katherine Pierce right before their eyes.

"But let's get back to the topic at hand." she said.

"Despite the fact that everyone thinks you're a monk now—_I know_...so naive—you actually contact a company called Saints N Sinners—a prostitution site. You don't use them a lot, about 3 to 5 times a year. So I think you mostly masturbate—far too sophisticated for a blow up doll anyways. Your favourite brand name you prefer to wear is Armani...they're tailoring is actually quite perfect so your fashion taste is decent. You only wear suits—which is horrible for you as the new public figure to the firm. People want to see you out and about on a regular day, so you'll have to ditch the armour at some point. You exercise enough to keep yourself in shape, but not too much to end up looking like a football player on steroids—_thank god._"

Elijah raised an eyebrow at that and shoved his hands in his pocket.

"If I'm being brutally honest, I didn't even know your name until last week. I never made it my business to get that information because it was never your intention to meet me before you start casting judgement like you're some kind of god. You see, you heard from your mother that I'm having an '_affair_' with her husband and you decided that I'm not worth your time. You decided that if your paranoid mother says I'm screwing your daddy, then I'm screwing your daddy right? I'm just a tiny speck of germ on the earth that you won't even spare a moment of your precious time to."

Katherine scoffed with a dark laugh.

"You know, Esther never seems to amaze me. She's one of the most powerful women on earth right now, and she has the insecurities of a 14 year old. After all these years, you'd think that one day, she'll wake up and finally realise...'_oh my god_, my husband is in love with me'. He's still sexually attracted to me, he still looks forward to going home to her just to hear her _complain_ and _complain_ and _complain_. I mean could she just wake up and appreciate what she has? You don't find guys like him on the side of the frigging road, because if we could, I'd be married for a decade by now. I mean, what is it that makes her so insecure? Is it cause he works among women every day? Is it cause she watches way too much Oprah or Dr. Phil...But I digress..."

Yeah, she was straying off topic a lot. But it was true. Esther spends way too much time creating conspiracies about her and Mikael hooking up. Katherine won't jeopardize her reputation with something like that anyways.

"You've judged me based on the cover that your mother showed you, so you know what, I'll give you a little peek to the first five pages; Your father is my best friend. Your tiny brain might not be able to comprehend such a large concept, but it's true so take your time understanding it. I can get naked right now and the only man in this room that'll have a boner is you. He doesn't get one, not even a little one. I'm also just friends with Kol and Klaus because Finn is married, and his skin crawls around powerful women so we barely communicate, and I can't reach Aaron on his high horse. Even if I was attracted to any of you Mikaelson's, I wouldn't go near the lot of you with a ten foot pole because I don't mess with the Mikaelson's. My job means too much to me to jeopardize it behind one of you...just in case Esther also cooked up some great diabolical plan on me screwing my way up the Mikealson food chain. Klaus and I share an equal distaste in my cousin...Kol and I share an equal likeness for the gaming world and the first time I met Henrik, I taught him the secrets of cunning women so he never falls for the trap you did with Tatia. Rebekah and I hate each other but at least she's met me first before calling me a slut. Oh and in case your mother also thinks I'm screwing my way through the entire male facility of Mikealson Incorporated...let me save you the trouble. Half of the men in this building aren't my type and the other half don't even know how to speak to a woman like me, let alone begin to fathom having sex with me...but hey, they're great errand boys for my morning coffee and afternoon latte..." she trailed off before beaming a fake smile "I hope you liked the brownies."

.

.

.

Mikael and Elijah were so stunned that they looked like they froze to death. The only thing that showed visible signs of live was the sight of their chest rising up and down. At least they were getting oxygen.

This was not what Elijah was expecting, which is why he was so shocked.

He was expecting a rude, provocative young lady to walk in the room and throw a temper tantrum that she had to answer to the son of the man she was sleeping with. He expected her to be offended by words he would unapologetically share and he might even expect her to make an attempt on his life, just based on what the others have told him about her. He completely expected her to make his life hell for the entire year...

He was not expecting...this.

First and foremost...she was even more beautiful in person than in pictures. The woman he sees in front of him now is not even the woman he was expecting, this was much better. She was sexy, she was seductive, she was resourceful, and intelligent just based everything she said about him and their family. She was a skilled actor to mimic her twin sister so perfectly, and quite the baker.

_What was in those brownies?_

She brought him out of his comfort zone. He ate brownies like they were candy. They were absolutely addictive, the second she placed it in his mouth, his taste buds exploded wonderfully. Through the conversation his father was having with her, all he could think about was the squared little bars. He wanted more. He thought it was the brownies...but now he knows his desire for more had nothing to do with her baking skills.

_He wanted more of her._

Information he thought were between him and god she found out. The agency of young women he frequented for nightly companionship was said to be discreet. He won't blame the company; she's probably just that good to dig up such information on him.

He also never told his father of the depth of the drama between him and Klaus and Tatia because at the time, Mikael had been very hateful to Klaus and as much as he hated Klaus in those moments, he didn't hate him so much to put him in Mikael's line of fire. It also happened 6 years ago. His relationship with Niklaus had gone back on track and they were closer than ever now. There was no need to bring up the past.

As for his mother...he always knew she had a tendency overreacted to things, or create thoughts and scenarios in her mind that had no business being thought up. He believed his mother when she said that his father was having an affair with this girl because she appeared to him—_by just looks alone_—that she didn't actually have the solid qualifications to work at such an established company, also, his father would spent an obscene amount of time with her.

But as she rightfully pointed out, his father was madly in love with his mother. It was one of the key points that often had him doubting this affair at times. His father doted on her like she was his life. Oftentimes he thought that Mikael loved Esther more than his own children. Ms. Pierce says that her relationship between herself and Mikael is strictly platonic and he believed her. She was also right when she said his mother had also thought she was having affairs with his other siblings and the entirety of the male facility. He believed her when she said she never touched a hair on any man in the building or his siblings. One of the main reasons why he often hesitated in visited his mother was because she was paranoid. But she had rights to be. Mikael had been a vicious man long ago, long before this woman entered his father's life. When Mikael turned around, his mother had been on edge that one day he would turn back and she didn't want to be filled with false hope of a brighter future. Her fears have turned into a deep paranoia.

He wasn't attracted to the persona she walked in with, her twin sister. She was sweet and kind and predictable. There was nothing wrong with that, but that was never something he was attracted to. He was always attracted to the dark type...unpredictable, wild, a strong woman who was capable of taking care of herself, intelligent, passionate...all traits he has always found himself attracted to, all traits he saw in her.

He didn't require her to get undressed to be physically attracted to her, his cock stirred right now and she was fully clothed.

Katherine was done, her plan worked perfectly. He was stunned to silence. He was securely put back in his place. She stomp on his neck and crushed it like it was nothing. Serves him right...

She grabbed her purse and the dress from off the floor and she held the tray of remaining brownies in her hands. She took one up and took a bite from it. She hummed in delight.

"I love baking, there's something soothing about it." she began to make her way towards the doors to leave, but then she stopped and turned on her pumps "Oh and before I forget, Mikael, that secret ingredient I was talking about, the herbal aftertaste...it's that herb that makes everyone happy and free..."

When his eyes grew confused, she sighed with a victorious grin on her face "The best brownies are pot brownies..._Bon Appetite_."


	3. Chapter III

**Chapter 3**

_Previously_

_"The best brownies are pot brownies...Bon Appetite"_

* * *

Both Mikael and Elijah stared at the doors she had just exited from with shock and disbelief.

_Did she really just drug me with weed?_

"Am I being lead to believe that she drugged you with weed?" Mikael asked carefully, still frozen in shock.

Elijah repeated his father's question in his own head and unexpectedly, he burst out in laughter.

She drugged him, and he actually found it to be amusing.

In hindsight, he knew it shouldn't have been amusing. In the back of his mind, he knew that her telling them that she had shared the most shameful moment of his past to a national news source should alarm him, and her knowledge of the most private things in his very private life should worry him, and her ability to gather such knowledge should be terrifying, but he couldn't help himself. He felt the sudden urge to laugh.

It was the weed, he knew that for sure.

What's worst? The real reason why he found the entire scenario to be amusing is that despite knowing what she had done, and what she added in the dessert...he wanted more regardless.

Oh when he came in with his father this morning. He had been dreading meeting her. His siblings—_except Rebekah_—spoke quite highly of her. A part of him was curious to what it was about her that had them taken with her. Aaron and Finn—in their condescending way—spoke nicely of her work. Niklaus swore there was nothing nefarious happening between her and their father, and so did Kol. Henrik said she's nice. It was a huge compliment coming from his little brother considering he rarely had opinions about anyone. He was not looking forward to dealing with her at all.

He was pleasantly surprised. He realised he was going to enjoy the year ahead of him.

For now, he was in a place of work and decorum was required. Hence his desire to sort through the haze his mind floated in to seek sobriety.

"I need to regain my senses..." he laughed, the sentence sounded funny coming out of his mouth for some reason.

The room was beginning to tilt. If this is what his younger brother Kol often chased when he indulged in such things, he did not understand the allure of having the room spin around him. It was putting him off balance. He kept mentally reminding himself that he was indeed standing straight and it was all in his head and the brownies.

"I need to scold my employee...or congratulate her." Mikael snorted.

Elijah ignored that, another time "I need fresh air...and water...I need water and fresh air."

"She is a spectacular baker, I should have known. Elena could never be so horrible one moment and perfect the next." Mikael mused, remembering the taste of the brownie.

Elijah suddenly turned to face his father as his body leaned back...he felt like he was about to fall backward but he didn't...so it was the room.

_It's just in your head..._

He placed a hand on his father's shoulder to give him some form of steadiness "You will speak of this to no one, do we understand each other?"

It truly wasn't a request. He will never live it down. Aaron and Finn will make jokes for as long as he's alive, Niklaus and Kol will torment him with it, possibly even after death, whereas Rebekah and Henrik too will tease him to no end. He would be the object of ridicule for a very long time.

Mikael turned to face him and pat Elijah on his shoulder "I'm not cruel enough to subject you to the ridicule of your siblings, especially Kol. We'll never hear the end of it." Mikael chuckled "She's right you know."

Elijah stopped laughing long enough to muster a confused look at his father's words...or his eyes...he has no idea what's going on with his face anymore. He needs fresh air and water fast.

"You came in here with a fixed opinion on her based on everything you heard from everyone else. I would think you of all people would understand. Everyone has had a less than pleasant opinion of you and you did not appreciate it. It has always been a fault of yours to neglect the emotions of others in your actions. While she does owe you an apology for drugging you...you also owe her one as well."

He frowned, not enjoying being scolded like a child.

"Well, mother was quite sure that you—"

"Your mother—_god bless her heart_—is a beautifully paranoid woman. I have stepped out of my married but once in my life and it was out of revenge for an act that has long been forgotten. I am now a happily married man and not a soul can change that. Now that we've finally cleared that up...go get sober and return and apologize...while I have a chat with Katerina about what she just did."

Elijah's ears picked up the name as clear as day. Katerina..._such a beautiful name_...

"Katerina...?"

Mikael shook his head "The name she was given at birth...Katerina Petrova. She had it legally changed a couple of years ago but sometimes I find myself forgetful of it."

_Katerina_...such a beautifully enchanting name...why did she change it, it suited her perfectly.

_Katerina..._

Elijah felt embarrassed, tricked, bamboozled and hoodwinked, despite the fact that no one really knew what had just transpired. The childish—_and drugged_—part in him wanted to get back at her. It was a side of him he had put aside long ago along with his childhood.

He knew his father was right. He knew it. He had his opinion of her from the jump. He didn't like her and he hadn't even met her yet. She was a threat to his family and he disliked anything that was a threat to his family.

_Sexy Katerina..._

Okay, he really needed to get sober...

"I will make amends when I am sober." he decided. He needed a clear head so he'll be able to articulate himself properly.

That's when both Elijah and Mikael exited the office. He was expecting a room full of people who were doing their jobs as he saw when he entered. He would also expect some to stare, considering he's never really shown himself in person to his father's law firm in almost a decade.

What he did not expect, was the two policemen standing at the end of the room. To some passerby, they seemed to be waiting for something...or someone.

When they made eye contact with him, they immediately marched towards him.

"Compose yourself son." Mikael whispered under his breath.

Elijah stood straight and composed himself as best as he could. Despite how wobbly the room seemed, he stayed straight and remind himself that all of what he was seeing was in fact, happening in his head. Today of all days is not the day to create a scandal.

"Good morning officers, might I ask why have you graced us with your presence this morning?" Mikael asked politely with a charming smile.

"Good morning Mr. Mikealson. We received a call, alerting us to the misuse of illegal drugs in your building. The caller accused your son. We're here to ask him a couple of questions." the first policeman said.

Mikael growled lowly under his breath.

_Katherine..._

His eyes scanned the room, searching for a head of thick bouncy curls. When his eyes finally landed on her attempting to flee towards the elevator, he smiled victoriously.

"Could you give me one moment?" Mikael asked and then with a clear loud tone "**_Katerina Petrova!_** You will step away from the elevator and return to your office _immediately!"_

Katherine froze in place when she heard the name she was given at birth. She cursed the so called god that supposedly loves us all. You'd think he loved her enough to get her out before she was spotted, but nope. He wanted her to get caught. _Stupid elevator..._

She turned around and stomped her way back to her office, she made sure that everyone heard her, including the officers who knew of her and found her to be quite amusing. She slammed the door shut and Mikael returned to the officers in front of him.

"I am so sorry officers, there was a huge misunderstanding, and I think an employee of mine misread what she had seen this morning. There are herbs I use in my tea and I pack them in little plastic bags, similar to those that drug addicts use to store their particular medication. Would you like to take a look for yourself if you wish to see visual proof?"

The officer who stood next to the first officer shook his head and slightly raised his hand as if to tell his colleague to stand down.

"There will be no need Mr. Mikealson, a man of your prestige and morals would never participate in such activities. We found the call to be ludicrous and so we had to come and verify that it was a misunderstanding. We apologize for any inconvenience caused."

Mikael smiled with his cocky and intimidating smile, knowing exactly why they didn't pursue it any further. There was a case his firm was dealing with, where the police were adamant that they had made no mistakes in their routine in charging and prosecuting someone, when in fact they did and he got his client free from all charges. It seems they still held that grudge and the other policeman knew that if his colleague persisted, and found nothing, they could be throwing salt on a fresh wound.

"You were simply doing your job for once." he commented, poking that still fresh wound "No harm was done. My lovely employee here will escort you to the doors." he added, pointing to the lady who was sitting quietly right next to them minding her own business. The minute she heard him speak, she turned and saw that he was pointing at her. She immediately stood but the policeman put his hand out to stop her.

"That won't be necessary, we found our way in and we can find our way out."

"Well then, do have a good day officers."

He watched as the policemen exited the floor via the elevator and his bright smile fell off his face as his eyes shot daggers at Katherine's office doors.

_Now to deal with Katherine..._

* * *

Mikael had sent Elijah off to get some water in his system and some fresh air. He had asked a co-worker of his to escort his son to make sure the poor boy didn't fall on his ass. Elijah had not had a taste of drugs in his life. The man barely got drunk. Being intoxicated is a foreign concept to him.

He then marched towards Katherine's office like a man on a mission. He opened the door and closed it, then shut the blinds of her windows and locked the door.

She was sitting at her desk on her laptop as if he hadn't even entered the room to begin with, completely ignoring his presence. It annoyed him that she was ignoring him after the stunts she just pulled and almost jeopardized the company name.

She did it out of sheer pettiness of all things...

"I cannot believe you!" he snapped at her, while pacing in front of her desk. "You pretended to be Elena..."

"Last time I checked, that wasn't a crime." she defended.

"Technically, it is. You investigated my son..."

"I did a background check, as I should considering I'm about to work with this person for 365 days." she replied.

Mikael merely scoffed..._background check_...you don't get that kind of information from a background check.

"You went to CNN with private incriminating information about my children!"

He saw that she was about to defend herself when she snapped her jaw shut. Good, she knew he had her there.

"Okay I'll give you that. But I gave them a story that makes your boys look like victims and even if they twist the story to make it look bad, I have a backup plan for that. I'll give undeniable evidence to another news source that would discredit CNN and you would be able to sue and put them out of business. Did you really think I wouldn't have thought it through?" she gave him a knowing look "You know better..."

She's a lawyer or crying out loud! Of course she's going to make sure this company comes out on top either way.

Mikael gesticulate his hands in frustration and he screeched "You drugged us!"

Katherine rolled her eyes and slapped her laptop shut "Oh drink some water and relax, I didn't drug you, I let you take a bite for a reason. I drugged _him, singular...one._"

"You called the frigging cops!" he bellowed "Had they taken Elijah in and realised that he did indeed have weed in his system, you would have tarnished my name, his name and I would be in deep shit water." he then folded his arms across his chest "Was it worth your job to embarrass him?"

Katherine tilted her head towards the ceiling and took in a deep breath before fixing her eyes back on Mikael.

"I wasn't trying to embarrass him, I was punishing him." she sighed in defeat.

"He's done nothing to you!"

She stood in anger "You don't think Klaus and Kol talk? He thinks I'm an office slut with no business being here, probably because the way I look versus my education throws him for a frigging loop. He thinks I'm sleeping with you for crying out loud. Do you have any idea how insulting that is? That you think I have to fuck the boss to have the kind of success I worked my well shaped ass for? _How dare he?_ We have an agreement, you don't treat me like a lackey and I don't treat you as my boss. We're friends, partners. I made that agreement with you because I bow to no man. If you want me to play nice, he's your son so I'll play nice, you don't want me to do anything that will result in embarrassing the company, I hear you...but I will _not be disrespected_ and I will _never _bow to him. I bow to no man, I bow to _no one._"

She had made this perfectly clear to Mikael when she first came to this firm 5 years ago.

She had just won a case that was very big. It was about a man who had a big time job and he was a celebrity, and a woman accused him of raping her. When she talked to the woman, she believed her. That woman was too afraid...too distraught to make that up. She knew that a man as powerful as he was would be able to get away with it unless they had physical evidence of him doing the act or recorded evidence of him admitting to it. She planned with her client to keep a recorder in her purse and visit the man. The woman was very eager to do it, despite the damage it could do to her mental state after such an ordeal. She went into the lion's den and got him to confess, threaten her and even attempt to try and touch her again...if it weren't for the man, who she assumed to be his lawyer coming in and making him shut up, they might have gotten him on attempted murder too. Katherine had managed to not only get the man locked up for life sentence with no bail, but the lawyer got charged for aiding and abetting.

It's the reason why lawyers never want to know whether you're guilty or not...so that they don't make the choice to aid and abet. He was an untouchable man and her career took off from there. Mikael got in contact with her 24 hours later. She went to meet with him. She knew his law firm would be the best thing for her, but there was a reason why she wanted to go on her own and start a business...she couldn't stomach taking orders from anyone, let alone a man. She told him, she would work for him, and she would make him millions of dollars, but they have to be equal. He will not be his boss and she will not be his employee. He was hesitant about it but he gave her a chance, and ever since, they were inseparable.

She was not comfortable with Elijah. She doesn't know him, despite what she does know about him. She doesn't know him to the extent she does Mikael. She knows him; she can control him to some extent. She knows his movements and his ways. She can't fathom working with someone else after working with one person for so long.

Mikael knew exactly how she felt. He knew she didn't like being told what to do and he should have thought about that when he asked Elijah to take care of business while he's gone. They had an agreement; she didn't have one with Elijah. She's uncertain about Elijah. He should have worked to fix that instead of trying to make Elijah see reason.

Above all, Elijah was a gentleman. He needs; not to tell his son what to do, but appeal to that part of him so that he can make a suitable decision on his own.

"I'm sorry my dear. Believe me, if it weren't for the public and my family, I would have placed you in charge in a heartbeat and my soul would be at peace, but if I do that, the media will place my family and you in a war neither of you wants to be in, and I won't be at peace. I made the best decision I could possibly make without upsetting too much people, but it seems, the person who I didn't want to upset the most is in fact upset." he apologized, as he took a seat in the chair in front of him. He felt physically and emotionally drained, and it wasn't even 10am yet.

Katherine slowly took her seat and slumped in her chair in exhaustion.

"You and Elijah were cut from different ends of the same cloth. You're both stubborn and relentless; you're both set in your ways, unwilling to compromise with others. You both also share this charm about you that makes it impossible for others to say no to you." he sighed and scratched his head.

A silence passed between them.

"I'm sorry for impersonating my sister and drugging your son." she mumbled.

"And the police...?"

She glared at him with a look, clearly suggesting that he shouldn't push his luck.

"I sent Elijah to sober himself up as quickly as possible—"she cut him off.

"I have some aspirin" she offered lowly "It might work a bit better than the stale streets and a gallon of water."

She didn't want to offer any; it serves the jackass right for judging her first before meeting her. But Mikael came in all apologetic and everyone's calm and there's no actual point, if she's acting like a lunatic and everyone else is calm as a cucumber she'll start to feel like an ass...she also might have gone a bit too far with drugging him.

"While I go collect him, will you be able to prepare that glass of water and the aspirin so that the two of you can come to an agreement in my office, where you can sit and cohabitate without my actual physical presence?"

She nodded slowly and against her will. When Mikael exited her room, she slumped in her chair and sighed heavily.

She knew she wouldn't have gotten away with everything. Well, she might have gotten away with the impersonation act, digging into Elijah's personal information and she knew she could have talked Mikael into seeing the positive to the whole CNN business.

By this time tomorrow Klaus and his brother would become inspirations to the public while her cousin would turn into public enemy number one. She didn't necessarily want that for her...she might be a conniving bitch but she's family, but she deserves to be punished. Anyone who would question her because of what her cousin did, she'd easily tell them that she was the one who submitted the story in the first place.

She knew she wouldn't have gotten away with calling the police. She knew Mikael would have talked himself and his son out of it. She wouldn't call the cops unless she wasn't positive. This is why she had hoped—_a small hope, she wasn't stupid_—that they would have caught Elijah alone and he would have been too stoned to give a straight answer.

He held his own though, kept his composure. She watched from the windows of her office as he transformed into the initial statue she saw when she first walked in Mikael's office pretending to be Elena. She couldn't tell whether he was exposed to any kind of drug, so the officer won't really see it either.

She really hated how hot he was turning in her eyes now. He didn't crumble in the face of defeat, he stood tall and proud and pretended like he had won. It made her lady parts tingle.

_I mean come on, I finally find a guy possibly worthy enough to have sex with...and not only does he hate me, but he's Mikael's son. Come on god, I know you and I got issues but now you're just being bitter and mean..._

Now she had to make nice with him. She despised the thought, but she had to do it. Mikael was the only going to be gone for a year. She can control the urge to maim him and fuck him for a year...she can prevent herself from committing murder for 365 days...how hard could it be?

* * *

Elijah had gone to the roof of the building. It was high in the air where the wind was blowing heavily and it was quiet enough to where he could think.

That beautiful woman dug up his entire life online and threw it in his face like a bowl of cold water. Her boldness was incredible to see. Even he was curious to how she found out about the S N' S. Not a soul knew about that, not even Niklaus. No matter, he'll find out how she got that information soon enough.

He felt like each blow she struck, felt like she peeled off a piece of skin and now he was absolutely raw and bare.

Before he had the chance to tear himself a pound of flesh, she turned and chopped off 20 times more, and it was spectacular to watch.

Part of him wanted to kiss her. It was an immediate attraction after being carved like a turkey. She had a fire, courage, a boldness that had affected him wildly. He found himself truly wanting more...

He heard the door open behind him and he turned, it was his father.

"Glad to know you still have a fondness for heights." Mikael commented as he stood by his side.

Elijah smirked. He did have a specific likeness for heights. The world shrink and his problems shrink with it. It often puts his mind into perspective.

"Come..." Mikael then turned "Katherine has prepared a glass of water and some aspirin for you along with a slice of humility."

Elijah turned and raised an eyebrow at the back of his father's head "Did she now...?"

Mikael opened the door wider than he had when he entered and moved aside to make room for Elijah to pass "Come now, when she's not the target of prejudice...she can be quite the hostess."

Elijah eventually stepped back inside and fixed his suit jacket "You are positive that it is aspirin she offers and not more illegal drugs in the form of pills?"

Mikael scoffed and shook his head "And Kol said you don't have a sense of humour...what do they know?"

* * *

To Elijah's surprise, the young lady was waiting in his father's office with a glass of water in her hand. The aspirin was at the bottom of the glass, he could still see that the pill hadn't completely melted in the water yet. She didn't seem reluctant, she just seemed rather annoyed.

Katherine offered up a saccharine smile and pushed the glass towards him. Elijah grasped the glass, making sure to allow his fingers to rest on top of hers. A tingle ran down his spine at their touch. When she shifted the weight of one foot to the other he realised she felt it too. He took the glass from her with a small smile to his face.

He moved to stand near Mikael as he took a seat at his desk and Katherine turned and stood at the front of the desk.

Mikael noticed Elijah's hesitance to the glass and he groaned loudly "Oh drink it, she's not going to drug you again."

"What makes you think that?" she asked in reply, with a tiny smirk "Maybe its aspirin...maybe I grinded amphetamines and methamphetamines in there as well...or maybe some crack cocaine..." Mikael cut her off.

"Katherine..." Mikael warned.

"Oh it's just aspirin." she admitted "I would quicker use cocaine anyways...that's the serious illegal stuff."

Mikael completely ignored her and waited for Elijah to drink from the water so that he can have somewhat of a clear head. Elijah looked at the cup as if was a scientist trying to scientifically break down each and every bubble in the water.

"It's just aspirin." Mikael snapped.

Silence filled the room after those words. Elijah placed the glass to his lips while keeping his eye on the lady; he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I did find some crystal meth in my drawer..."

"Katherine, stop."

"You guys need to relax, there's nothing in the damn water." she snorted with a roll of her eyes.

Elijah realised then and there and then that it was safe to drink. She was messing with them both, keeping him on his toes. He smiled and shrugged before chugging the water down. Whether it had any other illegal drug that could mess with his mind or not, it wouldn't matter. She was challenging him and he found himself not able to back down from a challenge when it came from her.

"I wasn't lying about the crystal meth though."

A smile graced his features at her unwavering determination.

Mikael actually believed her, he stared at the glass that his son just chugged and then looked back at Katherine.

She huffed and placed a hand on her hip "I meant I did find some in my drawer. I didn't put it in the glass—_despite the power of temptation that was begging me too_—calm down."

Mikael sighed and shook his head. He had to leave in three hours before he missed his flight and he was not leaving New York until he was positive that there was peace between them and they had reach some form of compromise.

He turned to Elijah "Now that we've settled that nasty business, I'm going to tell you why I choose you to run this company till my return. It had nothing to do with your qualifications or the fact that you are my son. You are the peaceful option, not my first. I don't mean that in any offensive way, please understand. My first choice is Katherine. However Esther would cause a fit and create a coup in her mind, all of my children—_including you_—would have something to say about my '_poor decision'_ , the media would be up in her ass and my company would turn into a TMZ headline. Katherine knows how this company is run almost as if she runs it herself, she's acquainted with our regular clients, I've often had her speak on my behalf countless times, and everyone around here already sees her as an authority figure; therefore it would not have been much of a power shift for everyone."

Katherine was taken aback by his words. She had initially thought he never even considered her for the temporary slot. Now knowing he considered her first made her feel proud. It's so stupid she would have to wait a hundred years more for feminine equality to be demanded and slut-shaming to be rendered absolute.

Mikael continued on "She's not upset that I'm putting you in charge, she's upset that her routine will be changed drastically. Katherine has far more latitude than everyone else so your presence here will be quite a change for her."

"It doesn't have to be..." Elijah trailed off.

Katherine rose her eyebrow "So if I come in wearing lingerie and I use your office as my personal makeup salon, hairdressing table and change room, while you're doing paperwork that requires pristine focus, you won't mind?"

Elijah chuckled "I hardly think—" he froze when he saw the serious looks on both his father and Ms. Pierce's face. That actually happened before.

"Her office doesn't have such facilities." Mikael explained.

"In desperate need of an upgrade." she countered.

"It's also much quicker if she changes here in any event, makes my morning that much easier when I have to be blowing up her phone when an important client wants to speak with her specifically." his father added.

"Hey, I'm always here on time!" she defended.

"Of course, but if you're meant to come in at 8am and you schedule a meeting at 7am, I have to light a fire under your ass to get here. They're high profile clients and you cannot have them waiting a whole hour."

"Oh they can Snapchat to pass the time." she retorted.

"Regardless" Mikael stressed, turning back to Elijah "Both of you will sit in this room and compromise until you are both please with your decisions. An hour before my flight, I will come back to check on you and if you have not break bread and make peace...I will have no choice but to take Katherine with me."

Katherine perked up and stood in excitement "Really...? Screw compromise, I'll go pack right now!"

She turned to exit the office when she heard his voice "You will accompany me and Esther to India for an entire year."

Katherine froze in place.

_No..._

She turned to give him her best _'ha ha very funny'_ look, but the seriousness across his face made her stomach sink.

She turned back around in a huff and slumped rather unladylike in her previous seat "She already thinks I slept with all of your children, all the men in this building and 1/3 of the male population in New York, now she'll think I'm giving blowjobs to the men at the construction site in India...you royally suck."

"Then I suggest you and my son either make nice or at the very least, draw up a prenuptial contract—minus the nuptials." Mikael deadpanned, as he stood from the table.

Katherine tilted her head back and huffed out a groan.

"I will go and get myself ready for my flight that I will miss if I have to spend any more time on the two of you." with that, Mikael walked out of the room and closed the doors. There was some ruffling behind those doors and when Katherine distinctively heard the sound of keys, her heart jumped and she was on her heels and to the door within seconds. Elijah stood up, wondering what had her spooked. She tried to open the door, but it wasn't opening…her fear had just come true.

"That bastard locked us in here."

* * *

Katherine had relocated at some point—_who are we kidding as soon as Mikael left_—to the adjoining board room. She then proceeded to lie down on top the long rectangular table in the centre of the room and contemplate her life choices.

It wasn't that she didn't want to be in the room with him, the table was too small in Mikael's office. She'd have to throw everything off to make space for her to lie down and that was too much work. She just preferred the empty conference table.

It had been an hour since Mikael had locked them in his office. The board room door was also locked, so her only entrance was through Mikael's office.

Luckily, his son didn't follow her. His presence was like a dead corpse...impossible to ignore.

In hindsight, she knew Mikael was right. She should just slip on her big girl thongs and come to a grown up resolution to any differences they might have. It's not like she can take a year vacation and come back when Mikael returned, being away from the world of law for a whole year would be a hit to her climbing career, and for any lawyer who was in her shoes in fact...though her heels were one of a kind.

Katherine could very well pick the lock of Mikael's office if she wanted. She had learnt how to pick a lock long before she began studying the law books. She could get out if she really wanted to, but she wanted to see what he would do...she left the room to see if he'll stay by himself, if he'll come to her or if he'll wait for her to come to him.

He hadn't said a word to her since Mikael left them in here to rot.

She was laying flat on top of the table, her eyes were closed and her curls fanned out around her face and she made sure to leave her heels on the ground...lord forbid those idiots see any heel prints on their precious table they cause a riot wondering who did it.

She heard the door to the board room from Mikael's office opened and she wanted to smile in victory. She knew he'd bend to her, she knew he would come to her...he would be delusional if he thought she would come to him.

"Well...aren't you going to attempt to establish your male dominance by making demands, and expecting me as a woman to just blindly follow orders because you just happened to be born with a cock?"

She heard his laugh—_or chuckle, she could never know the difference_—and she heard when one of the office chairs rolled away from the table and it creaked at the sound of it being sat on. She didn't bother to open her eyes or even tilt her head to his direction.

"As a devout feminist, I resent that."

She snorted "Hypocrite..."

"Explain."

She smirked "Your brothers are quite chatty...told me all the things you say about me..."

He frowned "Those words were said by a man who never met you and took each and every word from his mother's lips to be the truth."

"So you're saying you don't believe I'm a brainless whore anymore?"

His frown only deepened "I would never consider you such a thing."

"Ooo, calling your siblings a liar..."

"Ms. Pierce, I once assumed you to be an unqualified opportunist, but I would never reduce you to such a term."

"For those who didn't go to a regular school, calling me an unqualified opportunist is the same thing as calling me a brainless whore..." she replied in a mocking tone "Look at the information this brainless whore managed to dig up with a laptop, a cell phone and internet."

"Ms. Pierce, I called you an unqualified opportunist because you're in your mid 20's and yet you not only have a job in this company, but your job title required qualifications that should put you near my age, and I assumed you were using whatever spot you managed to grasp and latched onto it, while being in my father's company would allow you to climb higher in the ranks."

_Oh._

She was silent for a while before she replied.

"I got my GED a year before graduating high school and was already in college before prom. I somehow talked the dean into letting me do a Bachelor's and a Diploma at the same time, while I was studying to take the bar exam. I was 20 when I interned for another company and the lawyer who I was shadowing bailed the hearing at the last minute so I filled in. Mikael was there and saw me when I won the case—_obviously_—and 24 hours later he offered me a job. I did my Master's and got the other qualifications while I worked here. Mikael told me I didn't need it but...there's no way I'm letting those dumbasses out there think I'm not as much qualified to be here as they are."

He knew that much now. He had done his own little research on her—_though not as thorough as she did for him_—it was enough for him. She had went through high school, college, the bar exam in a very short space of time. Even after being hired by his father, she still went on to get her necessary qualifications. Now that she explained it, he understood. She didn't want to be judge because she didn't work as hard as they did.

In actuality, she worked even harder than they did.

"Allow me to apologize for my crimes then..."

She froze in her dull daze and opened her eyes; then turned her head to the side to look at him. He seemed...guilty. _Serves him right..._

"Though I have not voiced any of my preconceived thoughts, I had them and for that, I truly am sorry. I also apologize for my words against you whether you have heard them or not. I should have done what my siblings had done and met you before casting judgement. I hope that during our time working together I may one day earn your forgiveness."

She stayed silent for a moment, thinking and soaking in his apology. She had to give it to him, even his siblings had a hard time apologizing...it was as if they were allergic to the concept or something. He did it with humility and ease...even sincerity. The bitch in her who wanted to take his apology and stuff it behind the stick that's perfectly lodged up his ass...wanted to take a seat and accept his apology.

A startling realisation washed over her that made her turn back to face the ceiling. She'll masturbate to him tonight. She will turn her house upside down for that vibrator just to picture him devouring her. And coupled by the fact that she's highly sexually charged—_not addicted to sex_—she'll keep doing it every night.

_He looks yummy in that suit..._

She's actually attracted to him..._ugh._

She hoped she would have seen him the same way she saw the Mikealson boys, not her type.

But Elijah...he's different...sure he's extremely easy on the eyes but there's something about him...it just makes her womanhood throb with excitement.

But nope, she made it quite clear to herself years ago...hands off the Mikaelson's...it's a bad idea waiting to happen.

"Normally I'd make you kiss my perfectly manicure feet...but you're hot and that's a nice suit so you're forgiven. So how about this: I stay out of your hair, you stay out of mine. Give me my cases; I get them done and no one gets hurt...sounds fair?"

She didn't exactly give him the chance to challenge her before she got up and slid off the table from the side. Not his side, she would never go so close to him for a while...might end up jumping his bones.

_Mikaelson's are off limits._

She slipped her heels back on and made her way around the table and back in Mikael's office.

Elijah smirked and dropped his head when she left. He always did prefer spicy foods...

He followed her back into his father's office to find her fiddling with the lock. His father had locked it from the outside, which meant they had no way out. It's not as if she could pick a lock...

But as the thought fell from his brain, the door unlocked and she opened it. Did his father know she could pick a lock?

_Probably not..._

His father wouldn't have bothered to lock the door if he knew she would be able to open it.

_Wait..._she allowed herself to be in here instead of leaving...which meant she actually wanted to be in the room with him. She left the office because she wanted him to come to her...

"If you were able to leave at anytime, why did you stay?" he asked as he approached the door.

She turned around, her hair whipped as she did so, and gave him a seductive smirk—a smirk he greatly appreciated "The ceiling is simply divine..."

He noted her sarcasm with a very light chuckle.

He woke up this morning dreading meeting her, and now he's excited for the year ahead of him.

* * *

**I'd love the feedback to know yall thoughts so far.**

**As for the anon who requested a Kol & Katherine convo... :)**

**-Cindy!**


	4. Chapter IV

**Hey Guys!**

**Responses:**

**Guest: **_Idk bout a Kol x Katherine fanfic, but there's definitely a scene with Kol and Katherine and a glimpse of their friendship in this fic. Also, when people say they like when Elijah has a sense of humour I find that to be strange because in the show, even in The Vampire Diaries, he does have a sense of humour. I mean, it's a bit...complex but he has one. It's more with puns and mocking than actually trying to be funny with Elijah._

**Anyways, bear with me guys, I'm kinda busy with some other stuff and haven't been writing my other stuff so I wanna add something to my other stuff before I publish the next chapter of this story because this is a story designed to keep my page alive and let you guys know I am writing (this story being proof to that).**

**Anyways, On with the chapter.**

* * *

Apart from her girl chats with Mikael, she didn't really feel much of a loss after he left. Elijah had been keeping it strictly professional in the weeks that passed. She learnt many things about him in those couple of weeks.

He wears a suit like no one's business. They were perfectly tailored to his frame like a well pressed glove.

There was one particular suit she couldn't help herself to comment on. It was about three weeks since their first meeting and he had been wearing regular navy blue suits with alternating shirts and ties.

This suit was new. She knew that well enough, and judging from the material alone, it looked quite pricey.

It was dark but not black, like a really dark blue pants and dress jacket. The collar was cut to a perfect V. The pants had a perfectly pressed seam and she could tell it fit his waist perfectly; there was no evidence of a belt.

He had on a black shirt underneath and a navy blue silk tie. She could tell he even got a haircut and a clean shave, _definitely_ dressed to impress...

She had walked in his office—_she never knocked before and she wasn't about to start now_—and saw him standing and scrolling through his phone. He turned at the sound of the door opening and his expression changed from focused to relaxed—_and dare I say pleasent_—quite quickly. She wondered what about her he found amusing.

_"Well, don't you look like a shiny new penny...new Saint Laurent custom tailored suit, hair cut and clean shave..."_

_He smiled and looked down—is that, dare I say, is he blushing?_

_"Am I to assume your visit is to merely compliment me on my appearance or is there something else...?" he asked, completely avoiding the question._

_She then proceeded to inform him about the new client they procured via email. It was a woman who had personally requested that Katherine represent her in court to challenge a prenuptial agreement which her husband had breached yet says she has no claim over anything of his once their divorce is final. Of course she had already requested a copy of the agreement and a meeting. She just had to tell him because he's the boss and she can't just be doing her own thing—despite the fact she has been doing so for the past 5 years._

* * *

During the weeks after their first meeting, the CNN broadcast on their tragic triangle love story between his brother Klaus and her cousin Tatia had aired. It was painted exactly the way Katherine wanted it to be painted—much to her family's distaste, and the Mikaelson's.

Elijah was bombarded with reporters who wanted the 411 from a direct source. He gave them nothing, she knew he wouldn't.

They told the story the way she had recorded it for them. How Klaus had met Tatia first at one of his art showings in England and she took an interest in his art, but even before that, Katherine made absolutely sure she put in the part where Tatia had called her and asked her information about Klaus, including where his art showing was taking place and what time. It showed that though it was their first time meeting, Tatia had known about him before and therefore had time to plan the whole meeting.

They told the part where she had been invited to a Christmas dinner one holiday and found herself smitten with Klaus's older brother Elijah. She also made positively sure that they had a screen captured text messages between her and Tatia who desperately wanted to be invited to the dinner despite Klaus not wanting to expose her to his family yet and texts between her and Klaus talking him into inviting her despite his reservations. Truthfully, Katherine believed Tatia just wanted to feel important to him enough to have the honour of being invited...but the bitch lied to her...manipulated her friendship with the family to get information. She deserved everything that was coming to her.

They also told paid close attention to the 12 month period where her cousin alternated between the two brothers and photographic evidence provided to her by TMZ.

What she had no part in, was their theory that she did all of what she did to somehow get to the real goal...Mikael.

That was a curveball she did not expect, though, it could very well be true...yet she didn't believe it to be.

Then they got to the straw that broke the camel's back, with that last switch when she dumped Klaus for Elijah and somehow talked Elijah into marrying her in Vegas. She told them to mention that when Elijah had denied sending Klaus the picture—that she also gave them as evidence from after they got married—that Tatia had used someone else's phone and sent it to Klaus to make him jealous. Of course they made it sound like what she said was an alleged thought more than it was facts, but she would take what she could get.

Then last but not least, they told the part where she had filed for an annulment six months later and when Katherine had texted her why she ended her marriage to the wealthy lawyer she said, '_he's no fun without Klaus_'.

Of course Tatia would know that based on the screenshots of the private texts she sent her, she would realise that she had something to do with the news cast.

She got no verbal words from Aaron and Finn but she definitely got the stink eye for placing their family in the public eye. They should be glad she didn't do it a long time ago, she was tempted to back then when the betrayal between her and Tatia was still fresh.

Klaus was the first to call her. He had been watching the news the very night it aired, it had not even finished and Klaus was on the phone already.

_"Are you barking mad, why did you do this?"_

_"Because she played me and I'm pissed." she replied nonchalantly. She didn't really understand why he was so upset, it happened five years ago and he looks like the victim in the story anyways._

_"Father will be pissed."_

_"I told him it would happen before it even came out, relax."_

_"You could have given me a warning." he mumbled lowly over the phone_

_"I could have but I love surprises...**surprise**." she hung up with that and continued eating her popcorn as she continued to listen to the remainder of the newscast._

Kol was the next person to contact her—more like show up at her doorstep. He accompanied her to work one morning.

_"I'm throwing you a party young lady." he laughed while she was on her way to work._

_"Make sure it's a lingerie party with sex toys." she smirked._

_"My favourite kind." he grinned._

_"So I guess everyone else is a bit ticked off about the Tatia scandal?"_

_"Mother is livid, she's contemplating murdering you and the wench." he replied._

_"She can bring it on, been a while since I've been in a decent cat fight."_

_"You know..." he started "As amusing as this little feud between you and my mother has been...I do long for the day it comes to an end. I have fantasies of all the important women in my life to grow up and get along."_

_She turned to him for a second before turning back on the road "You think I enjoy her evil eyes at me? I'll dedicate my life to god if it gets her off my back. But I work at a law firm...there's no drama there—in fact, I think I create their only source of entertainment..." she sighed "They need me or else they'll die of boredom."_

_"Katherine Pierce, god's gift to Mikealson Incorporated." Kol joked "So if I get the party going, can you guarantee that I'll be the only gentleman in attendance?"_

_She shrugged "Depends, might invite your stuffy brother for kicks..."_

_"Boo, he's no fun." Kol frowned. _

_"That's the point, a room filled of sexy half naked women and toys won't get him lose?"_

_He turned to her with a stoned face "No"_

_She turned to him, mirroring his look "Then I'll get half naked."_

_He gave her an appreciative up and down look and then shrugged and faced forward, she did the same "It could work...I'm actually liking this plan."_

_"Then half way through, we can tie him down and surgically yank that stick out his ass."_

_He gasps with a mischievous glint in his eyes "What a splendid idea! I swear you and I should get married one day you devious woman."_

They both fell into laughter after that. Kol was like her spirit monkey or something. They had the same kind of humour...maybe at times Kol can be a bit too dark but hey, so can she. He had disappeared into Elijah's office when they reached at the firm and popped in her office to say goodbye before he left...no doubt on a plane back to Paris where he lived.

Rebekah had called her the day after that. Truthfully Katherine didn't even know Rebekah had her number. No doubt Kol—_she'll get him back for that_—gave it to her.

_"How dare you play with our lives? You haven't the right."_

_Katherine rolled her eyes, honestly the girl acted as though she was royalty "Hello to you too Rebekah, I'm fine, thanks for asking." she deadpanned._

_"I don't care about your wellbeing, you better get rid of his scandal." she threatened._

_"The news is not a pair of shoes Barbie; I can't just put it back in the box."_

_"I should hope you've used your time at my father's company to gain connections...enough for you to put it back in the box!" the blonde hung up on her then. _

A couple of days after that Mikael had finally called her while she was in bed with her laptop. She thought he would have called her the day after at the very least. She doesn't know whether he was letting her stew waiting or he didn't feel the need to scold her. Part of her also felt like maybe he just found out.

_"You do understand how excruciatingly livid I am with you right?" his voice sounded calm, but she knew he was pissed._

_"Yes I'm aware." she replied, equally as calm_

_"I spent days convincing my wife not to maim you."_

_"Was kinda looking forward to it—but thanks." _

_"Katerina..." he warned._

_She would have scolded him for calling her that, but she was on a thin line with him right now, she won't cut it over a word._

_"Take refuge in the fact that the entire storyline favours your boys over my cousin." she tried._

_"It's the only reason why you still have a job and your head."_

_She rolled her eyes. _

_"You won't get rid of me, you're just saying that to Esther to calm her down."_

_"Regardless" he whispered back harshly before his voice returned to normal "You better hope this blows over quickly, and if I have found that my company's steady and/or rising income has been compromised by your lapse in judgement, we will have words. Goodnight." with that, he hung up._

She huffed and dropped her head. Leave it to the Mikealson family to rain on her parade.

A week later she got a call from the Petrova herself, Tatianna. She hoped that Tatia had lost her number..._god was just not on my side right now..._

She was in the board room and a meeting had just ended. She was finishing up her notes when her phone had ringed. She put it on loud speaker and left it on the table. Tatia wasn't going to stop her from her work. As far as Katherine was concerned, she was way too far from family to be considered as such anymore.

_"I can't believe you did that." her voice sounded low and threatening...**did she think she can threaten me**?_

_"Oh look, it's my nefarious cousin calling from hell. How's the tan coming along?"_

_"You made me public enemy number one!" she shouted through the phone._

_"I didn't make you trick me into giving up information for you to 'accidently' meet Klaus, and I didn't make you trick me into talking Klaus into inviting you to his family dinner so you can 'accidently' meet his much dapper brother. I most certainly did not force you to play them against each other till they disowned each other and trust me, I can't make you trick poor love sick Elijah into marrying you. There's no way you can fake me forcing you to sending Klaus that message either and believe me, I never made you divorce your now ex-husband—despite the fact that I would have. So I didn't make you public enemy number one, hunny you did that all on your own."_

_She heard her scowl over the phone "Bitch..."_

_"I hear it runs in the family." she retorted_

_"End it, I know you can." her tone sounded commanding._

_ Katherine looked at her phone in shock and disbelief. **The nerve of her...**_

_Katherine then scoffed "A lot of Mikaelson's want this story to disappear and you know, I was going to find a way to throw water on the blazing fire...but now I'm just gonna let it burn the village down. Try to charm your way out of this one...Elijah sends his regards." with that, **Katherine **hung up._

* * *

A month had passed and she had come to a startling realisation—scary one really.

She actually..._liked_ him.

Well yea, she wanted to screw him at some point, her womanhood would tremble at the sound of his voice, but she thought her attraction to him was limited to sexual desires—and the fact she hadn't had sex in a week. She assumed she was just horny.

But last week when she last had a dalliance with a gentleman she usually has sex with; ended up picturing her new boss under her groaning in pleasure. It got to the point she had actually called his name out when she came and it placed the guy under her in a very awkward position.

Long story short, she's sure she'll never hear from him again. She won't lose any sleep over it, but ever since she realised she liked him, she made it her business to avoid him at all costs.

When there are board meetings, she's the last one in and the first one out. If she realised beforehand that they're about to cross paths, she would make another way, even if she had to jump over a table.

There was even that one time where they actually arrived the same time and she stayed in her car. Of course he either spotted her through her windscreen, or knew it was her car that pulled up behind him; but he signalled to her if he could accompany her and her pretending to be busy on her phone and signalled she would be up after him. Thankfully he bought the bait. She reclined her seat and touched herself until she was spent...then she made her way to her office directly.

There were days when she would see him walking around the firm, and she would just picture him coming into her office, grabbing her and planting the mother of all kisses on her lips.

Then there were days where she would be in the print room by herself—_because it's a small room with way too much printers and there's a strict 'one at a time' rule_—and he would enter the room and lock the door and have his way with her. Of course she would wake from that daydream to find she made twice the amount of copies she intended.

It got so bad that she would shorten the time they would spend together purposely.

Elijah on the other hand had realised he was attracted to her long before she did. It wasn't the first meeting. He was in denial of that day. He considered that day to be a fluke because she drugged him. He could not even hold his thoughts accountable that day.

She was beautiful...but not in the way one would think.

She was intelligent. He knew she was smart—she had to be in the line of work she was in, but she far exceeded his expectations. She was cunning and she was witty and she was fierce and she was independent. She was dedicated to the little remaining family she had left; her twin sister and her young brother who was in college. She had this roaring fire inside of her that was compelling to him.

She made him excited to wake up.

Before meeting her, his life felt like a silent movie loop.

Wake up, get dressed, go to work, pretend to care what everyone said around him, go home, read a chapter, go to bed. Then the same thing over and over and over...the vicious cycle slowly ate at his insides.

Then his father called him and asked him to take over in his place until he returned from his trip. Truthfully he didn't even understand why his father had to oversee the construction of a building when his presence was never needed for such things before, but it wasn't as if his father had a line of choices. He had nothing keeping him in England which is why he agreed to his father's request.

When she would enter the room, a jolt of electricity would jump start him. He would find himself wondering what she'll say next. She kept him on his toes; he never knew what was going to happen the next day. She was an unpredictable flame.

He would try to find himself in her presence every chance he got to no avail. It was as if she was avoiding him. He would call her for information he already knew just to hear her voice at times. Though her responses would be quick and to the point, it was like a song he couldn't get out of his head.

The day he '_got all dressed up'_, truthfully there was no reason for it. His custom tailored suit had arrived the day before and he wanted to take it out of a test run...it had nothing to do with her. His fresh hair cut and clean shave had nothing to do with her either...just felt like a change.

He couldn't understand why he desired her thoughts on his appearance at the time. A part of him had doubted she even noticed. It had been a _very_ long time since he's worn anything other than shirts, dress jackets, slacks and ties. Even though she has always seen him in a suit, how different can he be now to every other normal day? No one else seemed to have noticed the change, perhaps she won't either.

But when she barged into his office—_his father's but details_—shortly after he arrived and settled and voiced her opinions on his appearance, he felt his heart soar.

Not only had she noticed, she went into detail—very accurate detail. She had enough knowledge in fashion to spot the brand of the suit and she looked at him long enough to realise it was custom tailored to his form. His hair hadn't been cut too different, it was more of a cleanup, but she noticed the difference.

_Shiny new penny..._

But the day he realised why he cared that she noticed him was a day after a board meeting and he retreated to his office. She still stayed in the board room but he had no knowledge she was still there. He had accidently forgotten his briefcase there. He was about to go back for it when he stopped by the door that was slightly opened and he heard her voice.

She was talking to a woman he thought he'd never hear from again...Tatia.

Their conversation left him with many feelings and thoughts.

Firstly, he realised that Katerina and her cousin did not have a pleasant relationship, but it was of no fault from Katerina's side.

Secondly, he found out that Ms. Pierce played more of a part in the scandal that he believed. And he believed she had no part in it at all. But he also understood that she assumed her cousin was turning over a new leaf and making an effort to mend their strained relationship.

Lastly, he understood that Katerina made the scandal public knowledge for the benefit of the company. It humanized the faces behind the company. He also understood that while that was her plan, it was not the reason she did it. Her research digging through his past refuelled her anger at her cousin, which led to her plan to broadcast it to the world in the first place. When she said she planned on killing the scandal story but then changed her mind, he knew it was not to punish his family but to punish her cousin.

He had no objections about that.

But he saw her, who she was and what she stood for and what she did not. He realised he wanted her.

* * *

Elijah decided to take matters into his own hands by pairing them together.

A very well known individual, who owns several 5 star restaurants throughout America, was divorcing his wife and seeking custody of their 3 children. Cases like those are usually labelled high profile when the clients are well known; they request specific lawyers to represent them and have no qualms in paying for it either. When you give them exactly what they want, their more inclined to re-visit you for future legal issues.

The man initially requested his father, but when he was told that Mikael was unavailable, he then requested Katherine...a thought occurred to him in that moment...so he managed to convince him to take a chance on Elijah and allow both him and Ms. Pierce to work on the case together, and allow him to pay the same fine he would have, had he gotten exactly what he asked for.

When he told Ms. Pierce the news, she seemed conflicted. Though he supposed conflicting emotions was better than disappointment or any other negative reactions. Her features were schooled but only she and god knew what she felt about working with him.

Their first meeting with the client had been a giant learning experience for him.

She had come in the office shortly after the client arrived with her business face on. She stood behind him while the client had sat opposite him at his desk. Once the financial dealings in regards to the consultation and the financial cost of their aid were dealt with, she dug into the man with no remorse.

"Before we get into everything else I like to tell my clients what's realistically possible and what's not. So let's start with the unrealistic possibilities. You will not be treated fairly, you will not get away from paying alimony, you won't be able to keep everything from her because you did not have her sign a prenuptial agreement, and we are lawyers, not your parents. We don't take care of everything; all we do is deal with the legal crap...everything else is on you. So I got two questions for you. What are your grounds for divorce?"

Elijah resisted the urge to turn to her. If he did, it would not show a united front.

The poor guy seemed shocked by her aggressiveness towards him. He was silenced by her frankness.

Once the guy did collect himself, he replied "She cheated on me."

Katherine stood next to Elijah and leaned forward against the desk. Again, Elijah swallowed the urge to turn to her.

"Here's my second question...What do you want?"

"I want full custody—" she cut him off.

"I don't wanna know about the kids or the restaurants or your assets, or your houses or your business. Your wife cheated on you and now you're divorcing her. When everything is said and done, when you get everything you wanted, when you look into her eyes and see the fear dancing in them, knowing she won't get what she wanted...what do you want to feel, what do you want her to feel...what do you want?"

"I want her to feel the pain I felt when I saw her with him in that car."

She smiled "There...now was that so hard?"

Elijah smiled "Since that's been settled, I assumed you followed my advice and written down a list of things you wish to have or prevent her from having?"

The guy shuffled through his briefcase and gave Elijah a paper. Katherine leaned off the table to stand behind Elijah and review his 'list of demands' so to speak.

"Hmm, do you know why I asked what you wanted? I asked you that question because this list is full of unrealistic expectations...don't you agree Mr. Mikealson?"

Elijah hummed "Quite right Ms. Pierce, highly unrealistic..."

"Full custody of the children." she scoffed "It's a myth. If you want primary conservatorship however...that might be swing-able."

"Of course, if this is contested, mothers often are favoured over fathers for such a thing." Elijah murmured.

"That's true. It's not like she's going to give them up either, she'll definitely fight it." Katherine agreed.

"But she doesn't have a paying job."

Elijah and Katherine turned to face them man in front of her.

"What you mean she doesn't have a paying job?" she asked, curious.

"She's a volunteer at a hospital."

Katherine and Elijah looked at each other.

"A mother with no job and no source of income versus the father who has an abundance of financial stability for the children...could work."

* * *

Turns out, the wife did contest his demands, especially for 'full custody' of the children. Which meant the matter would end up in court and the company benefits from it.

Which had them finding legal ways to get him everything he wanted and working out suitable compromises for the things that were out of his reach.

It led to Katherine and Elijah working late evenings and spending more time together than she ever wanted to.

Despite the obvious discomfort from between her legs and her inability to focus most of the time when she was in his presence...she actually enjoyed it. They would bounce ideas off each other quite well. He never insulted her when something slipped her mind, despite the many mistakes she would intentionally put out there as bait.

She stayed professional through their meetings. If their first meeting didn't teach him anything, she was a spectacular actress.

There was one particular late night meeting where her thoughts ran rampant. She wondered why he paired them together, it was a case that one of them could have handled easily, she could have done it with her eyes closed...he could do this with his eyes closed—clearly.

When her thoughts were slowly driving her insane—to the point where she wanted to rip her hair out and she realised, she wouldn't _dare _and she snapped.

"Why did you pair us together on this?"

He froze and looked up from his desk to look at her. She was giving him a pointed look which he realised she was waiting on an answer.

He looked back down at the client's documentation of his legal assets acquired before the marriage "Because I believed you and I would work best. High profile clients require the utmost attention as you are well aware of, and it would certainly make father less worried that we'll set his company on fire."

She scoffed "If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was mighty progressive of you...but since I _do know better_, I know you're doing it for another reason."

He smirked but his eyes never left the documents "Well I also quite enjoy being in your presence."

Her back straightened as the words fell out of his mouth like miniature bombs. She must have a really dumb look on her face—_thank god he wasn't looking_.

When his eyes darted up at her before going back to the documents in his hands rather quickly, she frowned—_damn he saw it_.

"How odd you find that shocking..."

"Of course I do, you hate me!"

"Don't be ridiculous..." he retorted "...I never hated you."

He allowed a pause to pass.

"I found you unworthy of the title of being called a lady at one point due to the accusations laid out against you, but I have been pleasantly proven wrong."

She cocked her head to the side in disappointment "Someone has to feed you pot brownies to become a lady in your eyes...such low standards."

"The change in my opinion of you had very little to do with the drugs, but regardless, I enjoy your company. You seemed insistent on avoiding me for some time so I had to resort to this..."

Katherine scrunched her face up in curiosity "Are you still high?"

He chuckled lowly "How odd you find I must be intoxicated to find your presence enjoyable."

She slowly relaxed at his words. Considering she found that he acted the same way Finn and Aaron did, yes, she thought he had to be high in order to actually like her as a person.

"Well, just because we work well together, doesn't make us friends."

He finally—_finally_—looked up from the paper that he deemed more important than to look at her when he spoke to her—_rude much_—and smiled at her "I know."

* * *

**Thoughts?- Cindy**


	5. Chapter V

Here's the next Chapter!

**Responses:**

**Grace: **_Katherine gets away with a lot and some of the Mikaelsons dislike her for it :)_

**Mia-Mikaelson-Forbes: **_Yea, I didnt want to add any scenes of Klaus and Caroline in this story because I wanted it to be strictly Kalijah. Whereas in my Klaroline stories, I usually add more on the other couples but I wanted to keep this strictly kalijah. _

**Now On with the chapter:)**

* * *

Katherine can't tell if he makes her horny or fascinated.

_Why can't it be both?_

Men have either been one or the other for her...

The ones she screws are the ones that make her horny and nothing else but. They don't say stupid things, but just based on their lifestyle choices, emotional baggage's and overall vibe; she could never see herself wanting anything more from them.

The ones she's fascinated by—_Mikael...Kol...Klaus etc etc_—she would find she could converse with them without the deep desire to shove a sock down their throat. They were intellectually stimulating...and that's all they were. She could never even dream of them in a sexual way. It would feel like incest or something and it would make her skin crawl.

She's never met _an Elijah _before.

There have been times in the month that had passed that they would just fall into a conversation that would be so deep, she would forget how it even started in the first place. He was so challenging.

She still tried to avoid him as much as she could because...her vagina is just starving for male attention at this point and he _wears_ those suits, his voice invites her in and his energy just vibrates passion. He gives off this boring office suit facade, but she can bet her life there's an animal under that armour just begging to come out.

_"Well I also quite enjoy being in your presence."_

What on god green's earth did that even mean?

Does he like her as a person with a brain and a personality?

Does he like—like her?

Does he like her as a potential wife?

_Ugh! At least you waited months before you started picturing him as your husband...its progress. _

But he could be a good husband...seems loyal and dedicated. He unconsciously checked off like a bunch of other things...financially capable, well travelled, impeccably dressed, soft—yet commanding—voice, smart, has to have a personality...then there's also potentially loyal and dedicated, but judging by the way he deals with his cases, he does seem dedicated to give the client what they want or as close to it as legally possible.

_And great, now I made a list...as long as I don't go through the third stage, I'm good...as long as I stay away from it, I haven't gone off the ledge._

She's glad he's sexy, because it distracts her from her deep thoughts.

Like there was this one day where there was a meeting between him, Mikael—_via the phone_—and herself.

She remembered that day like it was yesterday. Elijah and his father were babbling expressively about something, she doesn't even remember it now. All she remembered was the act of him standing up, removing his coat and dropping it on the table before he proceeded to roll up his sleeves and sit back down. Only everything for her `happened in slow motion...

_It started with when he stood. His jacket was buttoned so it gave him a very beautiful cut in his suit. Then he took the jacket off, as he did, almost every muscle in his body flexed—and ugh, the arms..._

_When he threw the jacket on the table, she noticed how muscular he was—definitely something to snuggle into. How the shirt fit in his pants, the fact that he was wearing no belt was the sexiest thing that day. There was something about it...probably the way his pants fit perfectly. It wasn't too roomy or too snug...and the fact that despite no belt, everything still stayed intact. _

_Then he rolled up his sleeves, and to her eyes it was so slow, she could see the muscles and the tension in his fingers work. She pictured what those hands would do to her, how they would feel against her skin—on more intimate parts of her skin. _

_By the time he sat back down, her lady part was soaked. Each twist and turn or shift and movement she could feel the wetness as her folds would glide against each other. Sometimes, she felt a little—tiny—relief when she did shift. _

_She kept herself composed through the meeting, until he finally looked at her. It was the look in his eyes that sent her off really. It was dark; it was sudden...like she wasn't expecting him to look at her at all. In that split second, it was as if he felt the exact same way she did. _

_She excused herself, and didn't even give them a reason. She just quickly—but calmly—removed herself from the room and went to her office. She shut the door, locked it, closed all the blinds and worked on her throbbing clit._

_When she was done, she made sure to compose herself as if she had not just masturbated in her office, before returning. She might have looked stiff but as long as she stayed focus, on point and keep her eyes off him as much as possible...everything will be okay._

She found out he had a sense of humour. It was just a serious one that's not easily picked up. Once she found that out, it was like their past—well her past sexual non-sexual encounter—had disappeared and though she still tried to avoid them like a plague, when she didn't have a choice, she would be internally excited to be around him, sexual drought, be damned. She found that when his sense of humour comes out, she would fuel the fire and it was basically a runaway train from there.

Just as long as she kept it in mind that she can't fall for him...what's the harm in silently appreciating a rare specimen of a man? She remembered the promise she made herself years ago when it came to Mikael's family...never fall for a Mikealson.

Even as she reminded herself of that, she can tell, she is falling for him.

* * *

He knew he was falling for her.

_Who wouldn't?_

It was no secret to him that he's always been attracted to exotic women with a fire in them, but this was more than that.

She was ruthless when it came to her job. He saw that not only when they had the consultation but the hearing in court, which they both knew their client could not avoid.

The client admitted to having the desire to hurt his wife emotionally for hurting him. He also wanted her to get nothing. No money, custody, no house, no cars, no part of his business prior to or during their marriage. She got him what he wanted but not everything he wanted and he was perfectly fine with it. She told him that he can't have all the stuff he wanted and hurt his wife. She got him primary custody of the kids because his wife has no paying job and as such, cannot afford to maintain the children. He liquidated their home and the cars that were bought during the marriage and half the money went to her but she had no access to anything that had anything to do with his business despite the fact that there was no prenuptial agreement.

Elijah knew he shouldn't be falling for her. There's a code of conduct in the workplace that does not allow workplace romance and he always respected that. He was a man of morals and principles, but when time passed; his hold on those morals was weakening. He's met many women he often found himself attracted to, but he never desired to break those morals for a woman.

That was, until he met her.

Katerina...

After that client, she had gone back to avoiding him, though when she was in his presence, she never made any real effort to leave. Yet even when she did not make effort to leave his presence, she would avoid him and it made him disappointed.

* * *

Today was Katherine's day off.

Thank the mother of gods.

Katherine always wanted a glass house. She blamed Twilight on making it look so good. But she knew that if she had house with glass walls, she'll have a bunch of peeping toms for neighbours. So she built a wall, and she made it big enough so that no one can sneak a peek.

Her room was made so half of her room had wooden walls while the other half, where her bed was had glass walls. But she had drapes to cover up at night.

But when she got home last night, she didn't bother to; she just took a shower and went straight to bed.

It was morning, and she was sleeping in today—at least that's what she thought. The sun was shining and the glow warmed whatever exposed part of her body there was through the glass.

It's not like she doesn't get days off, but this one she was determined to enjoy. Today is an Elijah-free day. No sexier polished suits, no more sexy voice and no more stimulating conversation that make her panties wet.

_Speaking of..._

All she had to do was think about his name, and out came the waterworks. It's like he had some kind of spell on her or something.

She had to admit though, he looked good yesterday. Is like he's dating or something, first it was a couple of months ago and now yesterday.

He had on his black suit. He also had on this silk dark blue shirt and a black tie. It was perfectly tailored to him just like the last time. Everything about him was just so...neatly pressed and put together...clean.

She just wanted to ruffle his perfectly neat feathers...

_She could even picture it...She would sit him at the edge of the bed; she would take off his jacket and feel his arms as she took it off. He would look at her with those dark lustful eyes he had. She would climb onto his lap and she would slowly take his tie off and fling it to the side. _

Even as she pictured it, she found herself—yes she was awake and alert—sliding her hand down into her panties to give into her throbbing clit.

_She would then slowly unbutton his shirt, but she would keep her eyes on him the entire time...she wouldn't miss any change in his facial expressions for the world. His chest would rise and fall in anticipation of her next move and so would hers. He would probably be looking at her lips, wanting to kiss her but she won't—not yet at least. _

She shifted so that she could spread her legs out and give her hands more access. She thought of removing her underwear altogether but it would have been too much work and she already picked up momentum. No sense breaking it.

_She pictured herself parting the opened shirt to his shoulders, and when they refused to move easily, she would pull them out of his pants and slip them down his arms, enjoying the feel of his warm skin against her fingers. He removed the shirt altogether for her. He didn't even care where the shirt ended up. The burning passion she would see in his eyes would have her breathless and damn dear desperate for him. She would feel his body against her hands, she would watch the little twitches his lips make when a particular graze from her nails in a particular spot and save that for memory—though she should remember that this was a daydream and technically none of what was going on could be real. _

As she rubbed her tightly wound nub, she grinded against her fingers to chase the high that she began to feel slowly approaching.

She moaned and breathed and groaned and cried out as she kept the onslaught and when she finally came, her back arched off the bed and she cried out and worked off her orgasm.

When it was over, she collapsed on her bed with a smile on her face. If only she had her regular penis for the night as she usually did. Her fingers could only do so much, she wanted more. She needed to feel the warmth of a body, the touch of a man's hands. Though women preach they don't need a man...she highly doubts someone created a dildo with passion. She needed the passion that came with a man's touch...and his dick.

She heard a knock and she groaned and rolled her eyes—even though they were closed. Who could be knocking at her door on her frigging day off!

She slowly sat up and opened her eyes, but they widened at the sight of the back of Elijah's head standing outside her window with his knuckles knocking against the glass. She immediately covered herself up, though she was clothed to begin with—_thank god_ she didn't take her panties off.

"Jesus bloody Christ" she shrieked.

Wait...

_How much did he see?_

* * *

Elijah told the limo driver to keep the engine running, he wasn't planning on staying long. He should have called; it would have been the proper thing to do. But truthfully, he wanted to just show up at her house and catch her off guard. Today was her day off. He would dread her days off, that would mean he would actually have to focus on work. She was not there for him to pretend she was going out of her way to distract him. Now if he was distracted, he had no one to blame but himself.

He had—_purposely_—scheduled a lunch meeting today with a potential new client. The guy was being accused of embezzlement and he thought it'd be a good challenge for her, so he can really see what she's made of. He's seen what she can do in her own 'wheelhouse' so to speak...now he wants to know what she can do with a challenge.

He was about to knock on the gate when he noticed it was open. He pushed it in and walked through, closing it behind him. He walked along the path in front of him and reached to the door.

She had a house with glass walls...

It suited her.

He rang the doorbell, but he saw no one. He kept ranging it in intervals to no avail. It was as if she was in a room with no sound. The bell wasn't loud per say, but it wasn't a soft bell either. It was something someone could hear if the person seeking entrance kept at it enough. He kept at it but still no one answered. Five minutes had passed and he resorted to knocked on the door a couple of times, but no one had answered. He found it odd.

Considering the walls of the house were mostly made of transparent material, he could simply take a walk around the house and see if he could find her. If not, he'll just assume she wasn't home and call. Then he should have called beforehand and would not have wasted a trip. He made a slow turn around the house to his left. There were very few people on the planet he would walk through grass in his Sebastian Cruz shoes.

When he got to the bedroom...he figured one thing. She was home alright.

He found her in bed, her head was buried amongst pillows—which is probably why she didn't hear his knocks and the doorbell—but her hands were buried in her underwear and her face was clouded with pleasure.

It took him a good second to realise what she was doing—_because it's not rocket science_—and turned immediately. His eyes went dark and his body stood stiff with desire. He felt a stir in his pants at the very quick sight of what he had seen.

He can hear her muffled cries through the glass—but she can't hear a doorbell—and he closed his eyes briefly and let out a ragged breath.

Albeit, his dreams had never occurred like this, he has had dreams of her...touching herself. It's rare for him to have sexual dreams of other women. Usually if he does have such a dream, it'll be someone he doesn't remember when he woke up. He would know who it was in his dream but when he opened his eyes, memory of the person would be gone. He not only had dreams about Katerina, but he remembered them. His dream had taken place at his apartment, she had somehow found his place, found his bed, and had taken to pleasuring herself as if she knew it was some desire he had deep down.

This was reality, and in reality, he couldn't bring himself to watch, no matter how much he wanted to. The morals and the principles he was raised with prevented him from indulging. Oh how he wished he was able to do as such. His hands trembled as he imagined what she must be doing to herself. He shoved them in his pants to curb temptation, but when she seemed to have hit a special spot, he couldn't help but curl his fingers to form a fist in his pants. His breathing grew laboured and his pants grew tighter. His member was stiff against his thigh, begging for attention. It would be highly inappropriate and downright perverted to deal with his issue where he stood. He had to calm himself. He could control his urges but she seems to refuse to curb her sweet voice moaning in pleasure.

Thankfully—_for him and his sanity_—she seemed to have came, though he was slowly revoking his relief when her cries made some precum leak from his member and he let out a breath of relief—more ragged, really.

He didn't allow time for his mind to continue to run rampant with such thoughts about her; he needed to regain control of himself...before he loses control with her.

He didn't turn around, but he knocked vigorously against the glass. It was strong material. He hoped she had heard that at least, or else she needs to reconsider whatever it is that kept her from hearing sound in her room.

_"Jesus bloody Christ" he heard her scream._

He smiled and looked down.

* * *

Katherine had never gotten ready so quick in her life. She prefers to take her time, make sure everything looks perfect before she considered the work to be finished. But she did not have that luxury.

Elijah _fricking_ Mikealson was at her house! She needed to look perfect ASAP.

_For...pure professional purposes of course..._

By the time she finished taking a shower and had put on her best underwear—_seriously, he's not even going to see it_—she had realised something.

Elijah _fricking _Mikealson was at her house...on her _fricking_ day off!

_No, not gonna happen..._

She spit her toothbrush out of her mouth and spat the remaining foam in the sink and wiped her mouth in fury. She exited her toilet and marched towards her door to give him a piece of her mind...disrupting her day off...the nerve.

But there was a mirror behind her door and she got a look of herself in it which stopped her in her tracks.

She had on her sexiest lingerie, but she looked a petrified mess. She spun back on her heel and went back to her bathroom. Elijah can get a piece of her mind after she looks sexy.

* * *

Katherine opened the front door looking damn sexy if she said so herself.

She wore a royal blue tank top, skin-tight, and black jeans with black heels. Her hair was still damp and a little flat but she looked fresh and clean and clothed. That's how she wanted to appear.

She was about to not allow him the time to have the first words, but she was too late.

"You got dressed, a shame."

Her eyes widened at his innuendo. He preferred her to open the door in her sleepwear?

_No, Katherine, he's making a joke._

She shook her head and cleared her throat, ignoring his_ joke_.

"Mikael and I have worked together for years. He never showed up at my door on my day off unless someone was dying—and it'd have to be a pretty important person on their death bed." she allowed a dramatic pause to pass "Do you know when was the last time someone important was dying, Elijah? Never, so I ask with the absolute knowledge that your reason will be invalid, why are you at my house on my day off?"

He just gave her a small smile "Good morning Ms. Pierce."

She frowned and narrowed her eyes at him "You're at my house on my day off, at the very least you could lose the title."

"Katerina..."

She straightened.

That was actually..._perfect._

There was a reason she changed her name, well more than one, but mainly because those around pronounced it so horribly, she couldn't take it. It also reminded her of her childhood before her parents died and she'd rather not.

Only the Mikaelson's pronounced her name perfectly...she assumed it was the accent which allowed it. Nevertheless she never allowed them access to the name.

Regardless of how good he looked in the black coat and his normal charcoal suit under it, what goes for one Mikealson, goes for all.

"Don't call me that."

"It's a beautiful name."

"That you won't use again."

He gave her a tight lipped smile.

She folded her arms "This is me waiting on a reason why you felt the need to be standing in front of me right now on my day off."

"We're going to lunch to meet your new client. Potentially high profile if dealt with right, on an embezzlement charge." he replied.

"Firstly, today is my day off in case I hadn't made that quite clear, and secondly, I prefer divorce cases, custody battles, women's rights, blah, blah, blah..." she trailed off, but then cocked her head to the side slightly "Didn't Mikael tell you?"

"He did..." Elijah smirked "...but your qualifications suggests you can do much more, hence my ignorance of your preferences."

She glared at him. He wasn't wrong, she's qualified to deal with almost any kind of case there is.

"You couldn't call?"

"I could have..." he trailed off with a heavy sigh.

"And..." she drawled.

"I chose not to."

Her jaw almost dropped, almost. The nerve of this guy...

She gave him a pointed look "How about the next time you think about '_stopping by'_, you use that piece of modern technology in your pocket...it saves gas."

He smiled "I will."

_Ugh_, he's smiling too much. He must have been standing by her bedroom the entire time. But then again, he doesn't seem like the peeping tom type. Besides, when she did open her eyes his back was facing her. Did he really just stand there with his back facing the wall the entire time; didn't even steal a little peek? How boring.

"Good. Now, you will never, _ever_, mention what you saw or heard today to _anyone._"

There was no sense pretending as if no one saw anything. He was there facing the grass but he must have seen something to understand to turn and she saw his back. He was there, she was there...

"Why not...?"

_Are you kidding me? _

"Because it's none of their business." she replied matter-of-factly.

"I don't see the point of secrecy...masturbation is highly natural."

She cringed, inwardly groaned and refrained from rolling her eyes. He was completely missing the point.

"Not for me...just—just don't even mention it."

"For an unapologetic woman, this seems to bother you." he pointed out.

_No shit Sherlock..._

"Yea, well, I prefer to partake in solo acts without an audience I was unaware of."

"So you're not against voyeurism?"

Her eyes grew two sizes at the suggestion in his tone and his words. _The hell that came out from...?_

"You're infuriating!" she groaned. She then huffed "How much did you see?"

He scoffed as if the mere thought was ludicrous "I am a gentleman Ms. Pierce, I have morals."

In that moment of silence after his words, she let out a low breath of relief. He must have gotten there just when she was about done. That's good.

He took a couple of steps inside the doorstep and closer to her. She didn't flinch, thankfully.

"What I heard, however..." her stomach sank at his words, _he did hear everything_ "...was enough to erupt my hunger." he whispered seductively.

Her jaw actually did drop this time and she stared at him wide eyed. _What in god's name is going on?_

* * *

Weeks later, Katherine found herself working late. She was almost finished with the paperwork so it really didn't make sense to keep such little work for tomorrow when she can be clear of any pending work for an entire day. She was almost done, she just needed like ten minutes...twenty minutes maximum.

She must be the only one in the office remaining. She always had late nights such as this one; it was why Mikael had given her a key to lock the office up when she was done.

So when her door opened, she immediately reached for the draw next to her leg and pulled it open, but when she saw it was Elijah, she let out a sigh of relief and her shoulders dropped. Jesus Christ, would it kill the guy to say he was still in the building? Her heart was still hammering against her chest, thinking she was unlucky to be at the office when burglars came in.

"Would it kill you to put a bell around your neck?"

He smiled.

Elijah was in his office, not that keen to go back to his apartment just yet. There was nothing unpleasant about it, but it was just him. He's never been overly comfortable with the silence at times. This was one of those times.

He also knew Katerina had not left yet. She was really dedicated to her job. Just another thing he admired about her.

But it was late and no time for a lady such as herself to be on the road, regardless of whether she was capable of handling herself or not.

"Have you finished up the Delvine case?" he asked, ignoring her quip.

"Just finishing up the paperwork." she replied, returning to papers in front of her with her pen in hand.

"After this case, there's a Civil Litigation case waiting for you." he informed her.

She slowly lifted her gaze from her paperwork to glare at him with hot sharp daggers.

"So you're completely ignoring my preferences." she muttered.

"Yes."

She scoffed...the nerve of him...

"If I may ask, why do you prefer such cases?"

"They remind me why I should be glad I'm not hitched."

He leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms "You are opposed to marriage?"

She wanted to laugh as if the thought alone was ridiculous. She basically dreamt of each and every man that had ever shown up in her life as potential husband, she secretly hated going over to Elena's house to find those little Rugrats and her sister happy as ever, because it makes her secretly crave it and she hated when Elena and Damon got all cute and revolting around her...she wanted that.

She would love to scream to the top of her lungs and say she would avoid being tied to one guy for the rest of her life...but she wasn't nineteen anymore. She's twenty-five, and she has had the married life kind of dreams and those were often the best ones.

"I'd actually love to be married one day..." it wasn't a lie...she just didn't mention the desperation behind it "...but it's nice to be reminded sometimes that what you want, isn't the same as what you're gonna get."

He hummed "Interesting."

A beat passed between them and she returned to her work. She was like five minutes away from finishing up.

"If you'd like, I can have the family matter cases piled for you." he offered.

She sighed. As much as she would love that, she's never worked as hard as she had in the time he's been her boss in years. She had been digging deep and making sure she covered all her basis...

Yes it was all to impress the walking suit but that's not the point.

He was challenging her; she won't back down from it.

"Its okay." she dismissed.

A silence passed between them and she didn't like it. It was one of those silences that had the air thick with tension and low on oxygen.

"I forgot to mention..." he then smiled "You're quite the marvellous baker."

Katherine froze. _Did he really...?_

She looked up at him incredulously "You came in here to tell me you liked my pot brownies?"

He parted his lips, she knew he wasn't going to say anything, and then gave her a smile "Yes."

She leaned back and folded her arms "You don't get out much I take it?"

"Some might say so."

She leaned forward and returned to the documents, she was _almost_ done "You could always call the Saints N Sinners."

That was the name of the escort company he used. Turned out, she had an old friend who worked there and was able to give her information about a potential high profile client they had that was rumoured to be a Mikealson. When she got back to Katherine with a name, she was particularly excited to mention that to him. She made it seem like an afterthought but it was the biggie.

"I abolished my membership."

She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You abolished your membership? Why? Because you think if I can find out such information, others can to?" she smirked "Having sex is _highly natural._"

He smirked at the mocking tone in her voice. He terminated his membership because of her. Not because he was afraid others may find out, but because he found himself too bewitched by her to even consider making the call.

But instead of telling her that, he settled for "My tastes have changed."

He was referring to his words about him being hungry for her at her house.

_"What I heard, however...was enough to erupt my hunger"_

She was confused by it though. Surely the organization had a variety of women for him to choose from. Surely they had someone that...held to his taste.

She's mildly curious—_please, she would pay_—about what kind of woman fancies his taste.

But she ignored it for now "And they say you don't have a sense of humour." she snorted.

He smiled.

She cocked her head to the side "Something tells me there's another reason why you're here."

He shrugged "Possibly."

She leaned back, too curious about this other reason why he's in her office "Do fess up."

He simply smiled—_or was it a blush? _"I already did."

He was of course, referring to the statement he made about his taste having changed.

"I'll be in my office. You can drop the files to me before you leave."

With that, he turned around and left.

* * *

Katherine had finished the paperwork a while ago, but she was confused by her conversation with Elijah.

His tastes have changed?

He already told her?

What did any of that mean?

He stopped calling for his nightly encounter with the company because his tastes have changed? She would think the company had a variety of women for him to choose from and she's sure someone was of his taste. He couldn't be so _refined_ in his taste that there wasn't one woman in that organization that suited his fancy, his _taste_.

_"...erupt my hunger"_

Wait...

His hunger...his taste having changed...

_Was he—was he talking about...**me**?_

_"I already did"_

Okay so wait, he said _his tastes have changed_ because she _erupted his hunger_...and he said he already told her what he really came to say to her which was, that _his taste have changed_ because _she erupted his hunger._

Good lord, her head was spinning. She felt like she ran in a really big circle, god this guy was confusing.

She made her way to his office with her complete paperwork. When she entered, she found him at his desk, typing away at his laptop. He stopped and looked up at her when she came in.

She made her way over to him, but he got up from his seat and met her halfway.

She handed him the files.

He thanked her and then offered her a drink. She was absolutely confused by everything her mind went through, but she said yes anyways. She always hated brown liquor, but her brain needed something to take the extra edge off. The tension in the room was slowly suffocating her. She felt like she was in the midst of a hurricane and she was standing in the eye of the storm.

She could hear the drowned out sounds of the hustle and bustle that was New York—_even at this hour_—and the only sound she could hear in his office was the sound of her heels meeting with the floor—one heel after the other in nervousness.

They both stand across from each other, sipping their drinks—_hated the taste of it too_—but her mind was so confused by Elijah _confusing_ Mikealson, she..._snapped_.

"Something's off about you."

"Really...?" he trailed with an amused smile.

"Yes really." she enunciated "For a while now."

"What could it be?" he asked sarcastically.

She ignored his tone of sarcasm—and slight mocking

"You're—you're stalling...or something." she realised.

He sipped his bourbon with a raised eyebrow "Stalling...you say..."

She's not in the mood for him..._Elijah-ing_.

"What is this?" she snapped, annoyed.

He removed the glass from his lips "What is what?"

She narrowed her eyes at him "You know what I mean."

He smiled and looked down. He knew exactly what she meant. He had hoped she would figure it out by now. She was right, he was stalling. But he'd been stalling for a very long time. He didn't want to jeopardize their working relationship—especially on something that could be one sided. But something told him it wasn't one sided at all.

He took the glass from her hand gently, and then he put the glasses down on the table beside him.

He swiftly wrapped one of his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against his body.

_Does he work out?_ His chest was solid. _God_, his suit was soft. _But woah_, she didn't see that coming.

"If you have to ask my dear, then perhaps I've been too subtle."

_What was he—?_

Her thoughts were cut off when his lips collided with hers.

Okay, so it wasn't as quick as she made it out to be. He actually leaned into her in a deliberate pace, like he was giving her time to back out of it. The hell she was, she's had actual dreams about this. Wild horses couldn't drag her from that moment.

_Woah..._

She was absolutely right. This guy was chalk filled with passion. Each touch of his lips was like jolts of electricity flowing inside of her. It had her almost on her toes. Her hand rested on his arms to balance her-self—_she's in heels and he just planted one on her, she can momentarily lose balance, and she kinda always wanted to touch him_—as she returned the kiss with all the desire she had to kiss him—_well screw him senseless_.

Of course she returned the kiss. She's been having sex dreams of him, admiring him since he got here, there's _no way_ on god's green earth she can't _not_ return that. His kisses grew desperate, like he felt her pulling away and he was holding on for dear life. She matched it; she had waited so long, wondering what the real kiss would be like. It absolutely exceeded her expectations.

Her lips parted for air because he doesn't want to let up and he deepened the kiss—_who are we kidding, this is lip sex at its best_—by darting his wet tongue and tasting her. Her arms slid up his biceps to wrap around his neck.

He finally pulled away—_much to her displeasure_—but he pecked her lips a couple of times before leaning his forehead against hers. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing at attention at this point. Her body was positively vibrating.

_Holy crap_, she just kissed Elijah Mikealson.

_Holy fucking crap!_

When she slipped out of his arms and exited the office, she blamed it on the bourbon. When she made it to her office for her purse and got the hell out of that building, she blamed it on the bourbon. When she broke speed limit a couple of times, she blamed it on the bourbon—_mostly because if she got pulled over, the police will too_—and when she got home, opened and walked through the door, then closed it behind her and fell to the floor against it. She blamed that on the kiss.

_Holy fucking crap!_

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**-Cindy**


	6. Chapter VI

**Sorry for the late update! As some of you MAY know, I also have other accounts on different sites, including an IMVU account in which I create on and I was updating my shop and I just got done with a two week collection (It took me that long to make, its like 5 outfits). I've been busy af but its no excuse because technically this story is finished I should've published.**

**SORRY!**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

Katherine had calculated the time difference from New York to India and she knew as soon as she got home it'd be good time to call. He should not be sleeping at 7:00am in the morning anyways.

She walked through her doors with the phone by her ear, waiting for that bloody Mikealson to pick up. Seriously, he picked the wrong time to attempt to not answer her call.

When the click of the sound when the person on the other end, did in fact pick up the call, she didn't wait for a 'hello'. She went right in.

"Your son just kissed me!"

She heard some shuffling on the other end while she fought to peel her top off her body whilst keeping the phone at her ear.

**_"Be more specific dear." she heard his bored tone say to her._**

"How specific do you need?" she cried out in sheer disbelief, it wasn't rocket science "His lips touched mine, his tongue was down my throat...you need a graphic novel?"

**_"I meant..." he emphasized "I have six sons...which one."_**

She sneered—_oh how she wished he could see her face_ "Little Henrik—_the hell you think I'm talking about!" _she hissed "The one who usually has a stick up his ass!"

**_"WHAT!"_**

"YES!" she shrieked.

**_"I never saw that coming."_**

"Forget you, what about me?!"

**_She could practically hear the eye roll "Oh don't play dumb, you'll break out. You had an idea."_**

She shook her head "I did not! I thought it was the infamous Mikealson charm."

**_"What happened after?"_**

She frowned. She knew exactly what he was worried about "No one had sex."

**_"You better not! I still have yet to christen it with Esther."_**

She could care less about Esther right now "What do I do?"

There was a small silence that passed.

**_"What do you want to do?"_**

Now it was her turn to freeze.

What _did _she want to do?

Race back to the office before he clocks out and fuck his lips till they fall off? Fuck him six ways from Sunday in her office? Date him? Marry him?

_Okay, you've gone too far._ He just kissed you. He doesn't have a ring on standby, you're not getting married.

Ugh, she hated how her stomach just went _splat_ against her ribs at that disappointing truth.

This is why she made the vow to herself.

"I made it a rule not to date a Mikealson for a reason Mikael. If it ever goes sideways—_because none of my relationships ever stayed on the straight and narrow—_it won't jeopardize our friendship or work relationship." she reasoned—mostly with herself.

**_"My heart warms at the sentiment my dear, but Elijah is...quite different than the men you've dated."_**

That was completely true. She's never quite met a man capable of stimulating her mentally and physically at the same time before. He's like a frigging unicorn.

Her face fell and her eyes widened slightly as she came to a startling realisation "I'm screwed, aren't I?"

She won't be able to run from this one, or hide. She's totally, irrevocably screwed.

**_"Oh absolutely."_**

* * *

Katherine avoiding Elijah like he was acne...

As tempted she was to taste his lips again, she couldn't. She promised herself...no Mikaelson's...even the hot ones who wears a suit like he just came off a Saint Laurent magazine or something.

She came in late, was the first one to leave in meetings, the first one out of the door when it was time to go home...when he did call her to give her cases or for her opinion, she answered all his questions professionally and to the best of her ability. When he would make attempts to go any further other than work ethic, she was out the door. She won't answer him; she won't even stop when he called her.

She was in need of an Elijah-detox.

She even dreamt about him...and not in the fun way, in the...hopeful dreamy way...what they would be like as husband and wife, _ugh_.

It was beautiful.

She's not going to come out of this alive. He might actually break her. She fell into the third stage of her inner downward spiral of wanting a family.

First was inviting the thought of being a potential husband...

_Does he like her as a potential wife...?_

Second step was making a list...

_Loyal and dedicated...He unconsciously checked off like a bunch of other things...financially capable, well travelled, impeccably dressed, soft—yet commanding—voice, smart, has to have a personality...then there's also potentially loyal and dedicated, but judging by the way he deals with his cases, he does seem dedicated to give the client what they want or as close to it as legally possible._

Now, she's dreaming about married life with him...third stage.

It was his fault. No one forced him to kiss her—_especially like that_.

_Ugh, why'd he have to be a Mikealson!_ It would be so much easier if he wasn't. She would still have him under her in her bed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Elijah has tried _and failed_ to get her alone.

Truthfully, he wasn't planning on ever acting on his feelings for her. He simply intended to work through them until his father returned and then he would...explore where her feelings were in regards to him.

That being said, his intentions were never to be as subtle as he had been either. In fact, since that torturous day when he visited her home, he had assumed he was quite suggestive enough.

She's not the modest type, so how could she have not seen it?

_Perhaps, he had been too subtle. _

Ever since the kiss, a week had passed and she's either avoided him or kept it professional between them. He knew right away she intended to pretend it never happened. While, had there been different circumstances, such as assurance of the feelings being one sided, a '_caught up in the moment_' act or a drug influenced act; he would have agreed to going out their lives as they use to.

But he knew she felt the same. He could feel her desire for him just by the way she touched him. Then her lips told him just how hungry she was for him.

Yet doubt still crept in him. Does she feel the same as he? Has it all been in his head?

It could be a reason why she's been avoiding him..._the reason_ even.

But she returned the kiss, had she not felt the same, she would have pulled away. She pulled him closer even. She had to have felt the same. Or could it just be limited to a sexual desire?

He's barely getting any work done since the kiss. His brain would just shut down at any mention or reminder of it. It could be a word, the sight of something...

It's been a long time since he ever felt the way he felt about a woman. After Tatia, he was ready to throw in the towel when it came to love and matters of the heart. He didn't have it in him to be involved in another Tatia fiasco.

His relationship with Tatia had always felt...off. He factored many things into that feeling...the fact she was once involved with his brother, his blatant recklessness with her, the urgency and desperation in his actions when it came to her...he's usually quite reserved and patient. In his right senses, he would have never eloped, he always desired a traditional wedding...with his friends and family, as well as his future wife's family around him. While he's always appreciated the meaning behind Vegas weddings, it was something he thought he would never partake in. Then Tatia came along. He thought that after the madness, everything would calm down. It did, just not in the way he expected it to. After they had parted ways, he stayed in England and kept a low key. While it was never actually public knowledge to how everything had transpired back then, he felt ashamed. He went through so much, became at odds with his brother for her, only for her to turn and leave as if everything he went through—_they went through_—meant nothing.

This thing between him and Katerina was...different. It wasn't off—_thankfully_—but just different. He's never been so taken with someone before. He found himself able to spend an entire day in her presence just talking. She challenged his mind, she made him feel things he never thought he would feel for another woman again. Hopes, desires and dreams he once had that had long since died were slowly creeping back in him. Even before the kiss, his feelings were controllable; he could have locked them in a box for an appropriate time. Now that he knows what her lips taste like, he has no idea if he'll be able to control himself any longer.

He needed to see her again.

* * *

One night, he waited for her.

He had given her some paperwork and research to do, as requested by his father. But his father had also told him to give it to her in intervals...he gave her the whole pile.

He was not expecting her to finish it, but he was expecting her to take the challenge and try.

More so, he was expecting—_also hoping_—that she'd stay back to attempt to finish it. She did.

He stayed back as well and waiting until everyone else left. Then he fixed his tie and made his way to her office.

When he opened the door, he was greeted by her face.

She was heading out it seemed. She had the folders clutched tightly against her chest, her purse on her arm and her keys in her grasp. She seemed shock to see him.

"Elijah..." she gasped in surprise.

_Damn it!_ She hoped he had gone by now. She should've known he'd still be here.

"You're avoiding me." he said to her.

He's never beat around the bush with her before, he won't start now. Sure, he'll pretend he doesn't know what she's talking about, or he'll hold back for a bit...but he was always forward with her. She was always forward with him—to an extent.

Her shocked expression was quickly masked by a tight lipped stare "Yes, goodnight."

She made a move to walk around him but he stepped in her way. His mouth opened to say something but he stopped himself. Just because he was always forward with her, didn't mean he wanted to be...especially with what he was about to say. He might look a picture of amusement and nonchalance but he dreaded her response.

Yet he needed to know "Katerina, you don't have to avoid me if you don't feel the same."

She narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance "Seriously, don't call me that."

_She's stalling..._he realised with a small smile.

He raised his eyebrow at her.

"The art of avoiding a conversation was lost on you growing up right?"

"Yes."

She resisted the urge to laugh at that.

She huffed in annoyance "Look, I don't...mess with Mikael's children. It's like a bad episode of The Young and The Restless waiting to happen, and I hate bad episodes. Apart from that, I value the working and platonic relationship between me and Mikael too much to take such risks."

His heart jumped at her words "You didn't deny your attraction to me."

_Damn it!_ He's too good at reading between the lines.

"Goodnight _Mr. Mikealson._" she insisted, glaring at him—_more like begging him with her eyes_—so that he'd leave it where she left it, as she pushed the folder with all the files he had given to her to his chest.

He placed his hand over hers against the files, savouring the touch of his hand against hers. He understood her reasons behind her hesitance, but he's known the feel of her body against his and her lips and has spent too much time in his head to control himself against her.

Besides, all of her reasoning suggested to him that she was perhaps comparing him with his other siblings...she would soon come to realise he's quite different from them.

She made move to walk past him but he used his other hand to grab the files—because if they fell he'd have to gather and reorganize them—and released her hand to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her flush against him. She stumbled a bit but managed to get her footing.

Her eyes were wide when she shrieked "What the—?"

He shut her up by kissing her.

It was meant to be a chaste kiss, a peck. But she returned it and he couldn't help himself. He deepened the kiss. He found his resolve for pulling away from her slowly weakening the more she responded to him.

But he eventually pulled away because it was late and a lady really shouldn't be on the road such a late hour. There was nefarious kind of people on the road at these times...drunk drivers, tired drowsy drivers...

"Goodnight Ms. Petrova." he whispered lightly.

* * *

Elijah answered the call and put it on loud speaker after Caroline had told him over the phone that he had a call from his father. He usually would call once a week for a general rundown on everything that's happening in the company. But this was his third call. Something told him that his father had something on his mind he wished to speak to him about but had been disguising it in checkups.

"Good morning father"

**_"Elijah, how's the company, up in flames yet?"_**

"It's the same as Monday and the same as Wednesday father."

**_"You're not the Prince of subtlety are you?"_**

"Father, this is your third call this week...something else on your mind you wish to discuss?"

After a silence passed, Elijah stopped his reading to look at the phone, awaiting his father's voice.

**_"You kissed her?!"_**

Elijah's jaw dropped slightly at his words. Then he let out a breathy chuckle.

_At the very least, she wasn't completely pretending it never happened..._

_She told his father?_

_Then again, they're close friends. Close friends do share such things._

"Yes I did...problem?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

**_"Oh don't pull a 'Kol' with me. My mind is still wrapping around the realisation that you haven't turned gay."_**

Elijah raised his eyebrows at the phone.

"I'm sure mother is also pleased by that."

**_"Don't get snippy with me. You're absolutely bonkers if you think I told your mother. She hates the air Katherine breathes."_**

"That's the first time in years I've actually heard you use a British slang..."

**_"Now I know something's wrong with you if you're attempting to injecting humour into this conversation."_**

Elijah leaned back with an amused smile and folded his arms "Are you calling to scold me?"

**_"Of course not...this is not a sentencing...this is an interrogation."_**

The amused smile that was plastered on Elijah's face only grew a smidge at his words. Leave it to his father to turn—_what was supposed to be a parental conversation_—into a court hearing. This family worked too much...

"Then by all means, fire away."

**_"Did you really kiss her in my office?"_**

"Yes."

**_"That's all that happened in my office?"_**

"I didn't defile your office father." Elijah confirmed in a condescending tone.

**_"Good, I have yet to defile it with Esther."_**

"Too much information...isn't that what all the kids are saying these days?"

**_"It's called TMI, get with the times."_**

Elijah rolled his eyes at that.

**_"Are you planning on having sex with her?"_**

Elijah raised his eyebrow at that "Do you truly wish to know?"

There was a pause that was filled with the sound of static coming from the other line.

**_"I guess since you are straight..."_**

Elijah lightly shook his head at that with an eye roll.

**_"Are you planning on dating her?"_**

"If she'll allow me."

**_His father gasped, but he could tell it was dramatically exaggerated "And completely throw out work ethics? Who are you, and what have you done to my son?"_**

"Perhaps I'm just a body double and your real son is still in London waiting for the other shoe to drop."

**_He heard his father snort "Oh, this is good. She found your funny bone. You have my blessing."_**

Elijah's lips parted in an amused smile "I wasn't aware I required it, but thank you...I suppose."

Elijah unfolded his arms and leaned forward to the table "You know her fairly well—"

**_"—grand understatement but continue."_**

"She's been avoiding me. Any suggestions...?"

**_"And she's been avoiding you? This is priceless!"_**

"Father..." he called.

**_"Okay...Katherine is used to being the bold one when it comes to men. She is an exotic beauty, most—if not all—men consider her unattainable...doesn't mean they won't approach her. Point is...it might throw her off guard if the tables were turned on her. It'd make her head spin. You want her head to spin because she thinks way too much. And be persistent about it, wear her down. Like I said, she thinks too much."_**

"Thank you for the advice father."

**_"It's rare that you ask, I have to oblige...on another note. If you two have sex in my office before I do with your mother, I will light you both on fire."_**

"Duly noted..." Elijah replied with an uncomfortable squint.

**_"Love you."_**

Elijah rolled his eyes and hung up the phone. Sometimes, he wished his father hadn't made such a drastic change. There was simplicity to his coldness. He never had to deal with the antics. Now he knew where Kol got it from.

* * *

Elijah took his father's advice. To a third party who's watching, they might say he took his father's advice too strongly. He spent weeks making some bold statements and they worked marvellously. The ones he said while in the company of others worked even better than the ones he said in private. He's even asked her out a couple of times. Every time, she would simply bid him goodnight or goodbye...he would neither get a yes or a no.

He could tell at times he was wearing her down. There were times when he would ask and she would falter...she would take a bit longer to say goodnight or goodbye, like she was reconsidering her answer.

There were moments when he found himself thinking he should just give up. That perhaps she was just too kind to decline him, or deny having any feelings for him. Of course, he'd find it difficult to believe her considering she's returned his kisses twice and never once stopped him from making his suggestive statements.

Even to him, it sounded ridiculous because she was _not kind _when she gutted him with his own life's history, while feeding him illegally drugged baked goods.

But then she started to dress more...well...more provocatively than she usually did, he soon realised...he couldn't give up when she was fighting fire with fire.

It started with a new pair of heels. Truthfully, he's never noticed her shoes before. He'd hear them as she walked in his office or walked out. As she moved, they gave her a particular sway, but he never noticed the shape of the heels or the colour.

That particular day weeks ago, he noticed it. It was red, it was glossy and it was new. He could tell it was new. It had a bit of a squeak to it, the way new shoes would squeak.

She came in his office, in her new heels. He noticed them the minute she walked in the door. He didn't really notice what she was wearing, but just those heels. He had this special fondness for red on women. It gave them such an allure...and it was even more so apparent for Katerina.

She was wearing something short—well, as short as allowed. The red heels accentuated her legs. She came in because a client she previously worked with wants to do business with their firm again. He tried to pull up his files, but it seemed that she had logged that client's files in her office and didn't upload it to the servers.

She came over to his desk and stood near him; she twisted his laptop to the side where she was bent over and proceeded to locate the files using his laptop from hers.

When he noticed she had to put in her username and password to login to her account, she looked back at him. He raised an eyebrow at her; challenging her, she gave him a look and he looked away. But when he did, he found his eyes redirected to her ass.

Though it was a lovely view...it was also inappropriate. He directed his eye sight lower to her legs.

_"When you're done staring at my legs, feel free to dig through the files and assign his case to someone."_

_At first, of course he felt as if he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. But then he saw it as an opportunity to yet again, be bold and relentless._

_"In a moment." he simply replied. _

Though in his mind had stopped admiring her, he kept his eyes there to show her; that not only will he own up to his act, but he will continue to regardless of being caught.

From them on, she'd dress sultrier and he kept being bold and relentless. He even wore completely black a couple of times. He had noticed she would stare at him more when he did. She never disappointed him.

A week after that incident however, she stepped up her game.

When he walked into his office at approximately 6:30am, he expected to find his office empty and exactly as he left it...clean.

When he opened the door—_a door that was meant to be locked_—the first thing he saw was Katherine sitting at the desk, with her feet up and she was on the phone.

"Good morning." he greeted her.

She waved him and kept to her phone call.

He found that to be quite rude.

She ended the call and got up. She was not dressed.

She was wearing undergarments, and an open robe to match.

"Something wrong with your house?" he asked.

"No."

He hummed in return.

"Are you trying to seduce me?"

She smirked "If I was sweetie, I won't be trying this hard."

"I suppose you won't..."

She folded her arms, but made no move to cover anything "Can I take a shower now?"

"By all means..."

* * *

Katherine's not known for her patience.

Everyone who knows her knows she's not the kind of person to be patient and wait for something to happen. If Valentino dropped a new shoe collection and she had to have a pair of those shoes. She will not wait till it reaches in the States. She will order it from Valentino himself, and have it shipped to her doorstep before it even reached the shelves of stores worldwide.

So the little game of cat and mouse she and Elijah had been playing for some time now was testing her limit to the patience she never had to begin with. If he was a different person, she would have defiled her office by now and killed the foreplay.

But he's a _Mikealson_.

Why did he have to be a _stupid Mikealson_?

He made some serious bold statements, shamelessly checked her out—_and never, not once denied it_—and she swears if he bites his lip one more time she's going to combust into flames.

Thankfully he never tried to kiss her again. After that second kiss, she's absolutely sure if he does it again she might not have the strength to pull away again. Especially considering how long it's been since she last had sex. She might lose her senses if he comes that close to her again.

So she's surprised she hasn't jumped him yet. Yes she has her rule against Mikealson men, but this was her longest dry spell and she doesn't think she can take it anymore.

She's not surprised he managed to keep his hands to himself. He came across as the kind of person with that level of restraint. Well at first she felt like perhaps she was wrong about that but now she knows she's not; which only meant that the two times they kissed were fully conscious choices. He didn't lose control or let himself go in an act of passion, he chose to kiss her.

It didn't stop her from believing that he had no passion at all because...just thinking about his kisses made her heart race just remembering it.

She decided that if he wanted to play with fire, she grew up in the kitchen. Her fire would be bigger than his. She made even more extra effort to dress and style herself to the max. She could put the women in office porn to shame. But she made sure to keep it professional; they were in a place of work after all.

They were in a board meeting today.

Wine was her favourite colour. It was seductive and it just always caught her eye. She saw the dress on her day off two days ago and she had to have it. It was wine coloured, skin tight, long sleeved, a little below the knee; it had a gold zip going all the way down to the hem of the dress in the front and a sexy cut to her cleavage. She wore it today with her black velvet Louboutin 6'' heels with red glossy sole.

But a pretty dress and drop dead gorgeous heels wasn't going to cut it, not with him. She wanted him to feel just as cornered as he made her feel. She brought her 'A' game too.

She got frustrated because it seemed like her outfit and her 'A' game didn't do what she wanted it to. How is it he was able to fluster her and she couldn't do the same. No fair.

When the meeting was over, she could feel her blood boil when her dress didn't work. It was frigging wine coloured. How can he not lose his shit over this dress? She stood up, looking like a million bucks and he's talking to some pony tailed pencil pusher. If he liked pony tails then it's become quite obvious he's not the kind of guy for her.

She packed her pages in her folder, with the least amount of frustration as she could muster. She might look like a crazy lady if she started blowing steam out of her ears for no reason—to the random passerby's. She didn't even bother to see what he was doing, that idiot couldn't see a suit coming his way if Calvin Klein brought it himself..._okay maybe he would_.

She was almost at the door when a strong hand grabbed her arm. She turned back in confusion, only to find that it was Elijah's hand holding her back from leaving. She won't lie to her own thoughts, her heart began to soar. But she maintained her frustrated demeanour and pretended as though she was annoyed by his persistence.

He gave those who passed beside her to exit the room a smile and when the last person left the board meeting room he closed the door behind them.

"I'd like to see you in my office."

"I have a company phone in my office you could've called it." she quipped "And if it's too much of a bother..._Milord_, I'm pretty sure your lips and your tongue doesn't have to work with your vice grip on my arm." she added.

He released her arm at her words. He then proceeded to turn around and made his way towards the door and was adjacent to his office. He opened it and stood sideways to it, signalling for her to enter first.

She walked halfway towards him before stopping and folding her arms and hugging her folder to her chest.

"What could you possibly have to talk to me about that require us to be in your office?"

"Step in and find out." he challenged.

She raised her eyebrows at his words.

Something told her not to get in that office, something told her that he intended to kiss her again. She knew she won't be able to resist him if he did. Good sense told her to tell him she had an emergency and get the hell out of dodge.

But just because there was that voice of reason trying to guide her in the right direction...doesn't mean she was listening to it. She narrowed her eyes at him before slowly entering his office. He entered behind her and closed the door. She heard the faint sound of a lock being turned but she's sure it was just in her head.

A part of her now hoped that he actually had something he desired to speak to her about. That her thoughts were simply wishing that he had his way with her when in reality; he simply had some business which required her attention. Instead, he walked past her towards the front door and she's absolutely sure he locked that door. She knew what the sound of that door being locked sounded like.

She turned around to stop his train of thought, but she found him removing his dress jacket. He couldn't possibly want to..._Like right now?_

When he threw the jacket to the side and walked up to her she was about to stop him—but even she knew it would have been a weak protest. Besides, the way he took charge to lock the doors and removed his jacket...whose lady parts wouldn't tingle right now? _Name **one**..._

He attacked her lips hungrily. Her eyes grew as she was taken aback by it. _Ugh_ still so filled with passion and frustration. Her eyes fluttered close in pleasure.

_Ahhh, so he was bothered by her effort today._ She knew it. He couldn't have that stick so far up his ass that he couldn't take the bait. He's a man after all.

One of his arms wrapped around the small of her back to pull her flush against him. Her hands came to cradle his face and then both his arms wrapped around her waist. She could feel the fabric of his shirt against her dress like a brand new crisped shirt. He radiated warmth and comfort, _and god—where have these lips been all my life?_

They broke apart to catch their breath, but they dared not move from against each other. She kept her eyes closed to savour the moment before she had to break it. She had to stay strong and remember: She doesn't mess with the Mikealson men. Mikael is her friend and she won't jeopardize it with her relationship drama with one of his sons.

_It's not worth it._

_He's not—_

_He's not—_

_Ugh, _she can't even say it!

"This back and forth between us is a pure torture." he breathed out, lightly against her lips.

"You started it." she retorted, equally out of air.

It's as if she can see the self satisfied smirk on his face—_it's official, the smirk is a genetic family trait_—and he leaned his forehead against hers.

"And now, I'm ending it"

She felt him lean in for round two when a knock on the front door stopped him.

_Thank you Sweet Baby Jesus! I swear I'll be in church on Sunday._

He let out a low frustrated growl at the sound and she smiled, her eyes were still closed.

"That's not how a gentleman is supposed to behave..." she teased.

"The gentleman is on lunch break."

She dropped her head slightly, and let out a laugh.

He leaned his head away from her head and turned towards the door "Yes?"

"Um, Mr. Mikealson—Mikael—is on line 1 and he specifically requests that he speak with both you and Ms. Pierce. Shall I call her?" Caroline's muffled voice replied from behind the door.

He smiled down at Katherine who narrowed her eyes at him in return "No need Ms. Forbes, I'll call her."

She scoffed "Aren't you just full of irony and sarcasm these days. Must be in a good mood..."

"I must be..."

_She will NOT blush. She WILL NOT BLUSH!_

He cleared his throat and took a step away from her to compose himself. She passed her hand against her dress to smoothen out any wrinkles and fixed her hair. She would be fanning herself but she won't give him the satisfaction of seeing her attempt to cool herself down like an idiot. She'll stand the heat until the air conditioning cools her down.

He manoeuvred himself around her to head to his desk and while his back was facing her, she quickly fanned her face to get rid of any flush on her cheeks. He took a seat and she cleared her throat before making her way towards his desk to stand beside him. He then answered the call and placed it on loud speaker.

"Father, Ms. Pierce and I are here. Has something happened?"

**_"Yes, in fact, something did happen. You two bloody idiots KISSED."_**

Elijah's lips parted in surprise that his father would repeat something he told him in confidence while she was standing right beside him.

Katherine's jaw dropped in complete shock and betrayal. _The snitch!_ That was said to him in private...girlfriend to girlfriend. How could he even repeat that while he was sitting right there? Serious bestie boundaries were crossed in one sentence.

**_"So the two of you are going to pick your jaws up off my floor, close your lips and listen to every word I'm about to say. Either the both of you fuck each other's brains out, or you go on dates, fall in love, get married and have some children; but for the love of god please do something...because if either one of you ring my phone again about this, I will return back to New York and I will cement the both of you together until you figure it out. I have spent the past couple of weeks in ridiculous conversations alternating between the both of you, and it was cute in the beginning, but now I'm sleep deprived, sex deprived and severely lacking in brain cells. A guy my age needs them in the line of work I'm in. Does everyone understand me?"_**

A deafening silence dropped inside the room. The only sound they could hear was their own breathing, the air conditioning and the hustle and bustle of New York from outside.

Katherine was particularly peeved by some of Mikael's words...because she knew they were indirectly meant for her. Why would he '_suggest_' that they date, fall in love, get married and have children? She told him her deepest darkest desires and she feels like he's throwing them back in her face. Just because she secretly wants all of those things don't mean it's meant for her. And what if they do...try it and it don't work out? Mikael is her best friend. She's bound to see Elijah at some point in her life after that. She'll be forever reminded of her failed attempt of having a family of her own, and faced with the brutal truth that she'll be alone for the rest of her life with nothing but her house and her heels.

That doesn't sound as bad as she thought it would sound...but it did look even lonelier than she assumed it would.

And she bore her soul to Mikael...but he considered it to be ridiculous? _Say what you really feel Mikael..._

**_"I hear reflective silence, but no one answering my question. Do you understand me?"_**

Elijah cleared his throat and straightened himself in his seat "Yes father."

"Fine..." Katherine settled with dissatisfaction to her tone.

**_"And whatever you do...make sure my company or its semi-untainted name has no involvement. If you mess with my company, I will turn into a monster even monsters will be terrified of."_**

With that, the sound of the phone hanging up cut through the thick tension filled room.

Katherine and Elijah stayed in their respective spots for a while. They were bombarded with a mixture of feelings, shock, surprise, embarrassment; to put it plainly, Katherine had a frog in her throat. She didn't know what to say.

She slowly, but hesitantly turned to Elijah and narrowed her eyes at him as something suddenly clicked in her head from Mikael's rant "You told your _father_?"

He let out a huff through his nostrils and turned to her with a raised eyebrow as he relaxed in his chair "You told _my father_?"

She scoffed and folded her arms "He's my best friend. What's your excuse?"

He rocked his chair back and let out a breathy laugh "He's _my father._"

_Dang it! Father trumps friend..._

"So...what's your decision?"

She made a face that clearly meant 'really'. She scoffed and moved away from his side to stand in front of the table. He swivelled his body to face her "Really? You're letting _me _make that decision?"

He shrugged as if it was normal. Not one part of this day was normal at all.

"Where's all that male bravado?"

He let out an amused chuckle and folded his arms "_Male bravado..._?"

"Yeah, that guy who kissed me three times...wasn't being subtle...making bold ass suggestive suggestions. Where's that guy? Hiding under the table?"

He hummed in response. She thought she wasn't going to get a response—_rude_—but then he got up from his seat and made his way around the table to her side. She thought he was going to just stand next to her but...she really should know better. He moved till he was standing directly in front of her. He took two steps closer and she took a step back. When he took a step closer, almost touching her nose with his...she tried to take a step back but the table was in the way—_for real, who left that there?_

"That guy isn't exactly equipped to make such a decision..." he replied softly, allowing his breath to ghost against her lips "So again I ask. What _is your_ decision Katerina?"

"I've told you a billion times not to call me that. It's KATHERINE!" she fumed while glaring into his eyes.

Unexpectedly, his hand reached up and the back of his index finger touched her temple. His nail gently and slowly trailed down the side of her face till it touched the tip of her chin.

"That fire in you...it's quite enchanting." he whispered "One of the many things I find so captivating about you. Such an eternal flame...dangerous and resilient...brave; no matter what you throw at it, it'll never burnout."

_Well...damn._

She wasn't expecting that.

Everyone who knows about the Petrova line knows that the women in the family have a fight in them. They call it the Petrova fire. Everyone always would say she had a fire in her, or a fight or she was feisty. She's never been described like that before.

"There's too much risks involved—"

"Excuses." he pointed out, while cutting her off.

She snorted "Here I thought you were letting me make the decision..."

"I am letting you make the decision..." he replied "I never said I would allow you to make the _wrong_ decision...you're fishing..."

She cocked her head to the side feigning cluelessness "Fishing for what?"

"Excuses..." he repeated.

Who died and made him insightful? Just because she's fishing for reasonable excuses to salvage what very small cordial relationship she had with Elijah in the name of her friendship with his father, doesn't mean he had to be the idiot to point it out.

His arm slowly snaked around her waist and he pulled her flush against him "You cannot deny the physical attraction between us. You're too realistic to insult my intelligence in such a manner."

She internally grumbled. She couldn't, he was right. They've been teasing one another, they confessed their sins to Mikael, and they've kissed three times. The only thing she hasn't done yet is actually say the words...and had sex, but she has so focus on less tempting thoughts...

"You absolutely cannot refuse the moisture that I have no doubt lies between your thighs, just as I can't deny the hardness in my pants. So why are you searching for excuses?"

She tried to mask her emotions that faltered in that moment but he caught it. _Dang it, this guy is way too observant._

"That is why you hesitate...you believe that my desire for you is restricted to a sexual nature?" he sounded almost insulted.

Nevertheless her eyes fluttered and it told her whatever he needed to know. His face fell like she had just done something so disappointing...

"What a small thought..." he trailed off.

_Wait, did he just...?_

"Did you just call me small minded?" she asked in a whisper.

He shook his head "No."

She slowly nodded her head "I think you did."

He shrugged "You had a small thought. That doesn't make you small minded."

She mimicked his shrug but her voice was shaky "Doesn't mean my small thought is wrong."

He gave her a small reassuring smile "It is wrong, absolutely wrong. My dear, my desire to fuck you senseless has very little to do with my physical attraction to you, and my physical attraction to you has very little to do with my desire to fuck you senseless. I desire your spirit...your mind...your heart..."

She was frozen, as she dared not wish to.

"If I'm not being blunt enough then allow me to clear it up for you. I would very much wish to burn in your fire. So, I ask once more...what is your decision?"

_Jesus bloody Christ!_

How in the hell is she suppose to say no to that? It was the sales pitch to end all sales pitch. It was the ultimate pickup line. _It was frigging epic!_

Still...she believed that there were too much risks involved. It wasn't just for her but for them as well. If she screwed it up with him, then there's no hope for her in this world.

He's damn near perfect and he's actually attracted to her. She knew she'd find a way to screw it up. She already began the process of picturing him as her future husband. That's how it starts...its how it all starts...and then they go downhill from there.

She shouldn't...she couldn't. There was too much to lose.

But...how can she say no? Despite her fears, how can she?

She can refuse him. She had the strength to do it, for her friendship with Mikael and to maintain cordial relationships with at least the majority of the family...she could sacrifice their potential. She could do it.

But...she doesn't want to. Truthfully, for Katherine, it's been years since she felt this way about a guy. He gives her butterflies, she's had this rejuvenated desire to wake up in the morning and head to work, despite avoiding him at times, she always looked forward to spending time with him and every second with him makes her stomach turn and her heart race. She doesn't want to give that up.

Besides...if she says no, each and every woman on planet earth; dead or alive will come for her and she'll be nailed to the frigging cross for blasphemy or something...

"Pick me up at 7:30pm. This time, stay by the door till I answer this time." she replied with a bit of uncertainty.

"I shall pick you up at 8pm." he smiled brightly.

Thoughts?

\- Cindy


End file.
